When the road was just beginning and my jacket didn’t weigh this much There was laughter in your brown eyes, there was lightning in your touch You were wild curls in the doorway, you were summer at my feet I thought I was the lucky one you chose along the street (“you chose along the street…”) But distance grew like quiet miles between the town and where you stood I let go before I saw how long that leaving really would I’ve been walking, I’ve been walking with your shadow on the lane Every turn I called a fresh start still leaned back toward your name Some hearts learn to love in seasons, some move on and learn the tune Mine kept one song in the corners, softly playing just for you (“softly playing… just for you…”) Years went by like busy stations where the trains don’t wait for long I held hands and signed on papers, tried to build a life in stone There were kind eyes at my table, there were rings upon a shelf But I kept a place inside me that I never shared with anyone else (“never shared with anyone else…”) You were out there changing chapters, filling pages I won’t see While I carried one beginning like a border inside me I’ve been walking, I’ve been walking with your echo in my stride Promising the ones beside me there was nothing left to hide But a heart that keeps a secret room will always feel half-used I was building borrowed houses with foundations made of you (“borrowed houses… made of you…”) Now the miles are getting heavy, and the daylight thins out slow I can see the far horizon from the place I stand alone All the doors I never opened, all the hands I couldn’t hold Trace a line back to a young man who believed what he was told (“a young man… what he was told…”) I have loved across a lifetime with a portion held apart Every promise that I whispered left one corner of my heart Like a lantern in the distance that I never let burn through That’s the quiet thread that loosened every vow I tried to prove (“quiet thread… every vow…”) So I keep walking, I keep walking till this long road finally ends Carrying a love that never learned the ways that stories mend Some hearts scatter like the gravel, some are gathered, some move on Mine stayed waiting at your doorway, even as the years moved on (“years moved on… years moved on…”) (“walking, always walking… with you in every mile…”)
