[Intro — close-mic, low bari-tenor; almost speaking, no vibrato] You said everybody leaves. [Breath] I said I wouldn't. [Verse 1 — restrained chest voice; behind the beat, intimate] You found me half-lit in a back-room bar, Cheap red wine, somebody else's guitar. Burn in your coat where the cigarette fell, You looked like heaven with one foot in hell. You said, "Everybody leaves in the end." I said, "Not me." You said it again. By morning your head was asleep on my chest, And being with you made the wreckage make sense. [Pre-Chorus — melody rises slightly; tension under the restraint] Everybody warned us We were gasoline and sparks. [Controlled grit] But nobody ever knew me Like you did in the dark. [Chorus — fuller chest-mix; beautiful, sincere, no irony yet] We're tethered by love, Let the whole world pull. Run to the end of the rope Till the line goes full. No matter how far, No matter what we've done, I feel you on the other end Every time I run. Call it heaven, call it blood, Call it whatever you want. You and me, baby— [Hold, warm] We're tethered by love. [Verse 2 — lower, rougher; phrases drag behind the beat] We got good at breaking things nobody could see, You learned where to cut me, I learned where you'd bleed. You'd disappear, I'd swear we were through, Then three in the morning I'd come looking for you. We broke every promise except "don't leave," Made "I'm sorry" mean whatever we needed to believe. Every slammed door said we still gave a damn, Every wound became proof of how deep this thing ran. [Short, increasingly bitter phrases] Your friends blamed me. Mine blamed you. [Pause] We blamed anybody Who told us the truth. [Pre-Chorus — strained chest voice; melody pushing upward] They said, "This isn't love." [Dry laugh, immediately gone] What the hell did they know? If loving you was killing me— [Hold over unresolved harmony] I'd still refuse to let go. [Chorus — stronger but less controlled; grit entering sustained notes] We're tethered by love, Let the whole world pull. Run to the end of the rope Till the line goes full. No matter how far, No matter what we've done, I feel you drag me backward Every time I run. Call it heaven, call it blood, Call it something from above. You and me, baby— [Almost desperate] We're tethered by love. [Bridge — close-mic again; exposed, exhausted] Some nights... I can't tell Where I end And you begin. [Long breath] Can't tell if I'm holding you... [Nearly whispered] Or holding us under. [Pause] [Realization — nearly spoken; no performance left] Maybe coming back Ain't always coming home. Maybe staying Ain't the same As holding on. Maybe every time that tether pulled, We mistook the hurt for proof. Maybe we called it love 'cause "alone" Scared us more than truth. [Final Chorus — begins with old warmth, then progressively fractures] We're tethered by love— [Small pause] At least that's what we said. You pull from your side, I pull mine till it bled. No matter how far, No matter what we've done, I still feel that goddamn tether Every time I run. [Voice cracking naturally; don't belt] We called it heaven. We called it blood. Called every wound between us Evidence of love. [Music collapsing; voice follows] Now I don't know What I'm running from— [Long pause] You... Or what We became. [Final Refrain — exhausted, almost ashamed] We're tethered by love. [Pause] That's what we called it. [Outro — barely voiced; completely exposed] You said, "Everybody leaves." I said, "I wouldn't." [Long silence] [Softly, with acceptance rather than anger] Maybe sometimes... They're supposed to.
