[Verse 1] I remember you pointing to that hallway Asking me where each doorway led like you were Tracing your fingers over timber studying the names of the dead I said, 'This one is my brother, and a friend I couldn’t save…. That one is my father, and the life we never had and here is my niece , and the flood that took her and resides in my head over there is twenty years of wishin', I could go back and restart from the bad.' You just stood there in the dim light Like somebody that understood Swore you'd hold the heavy Help me sweep away the dust I Showed you every jagged splinter Every room that still drew blood Didn't know you were just measuring my grief To see how deep it was [Verse 2] Funny thing about a wildfire It don't start when you strike the match It starts out there in the brushwood Long before the embers catch Started with the crooked stories That never lined up quite the same Started with me biting down hard Every time you changed a name Started with "tomorrow evening" Turned to "maybe next week too" Started with me waiting in the dark While life kept happening to you [Chorus] I wasn't losing my mind, I was losing my faith And God knows the difference cuts deep You took a house full of ghosts I was trying to survive And gave me a new one to keep Handed you the keys to the places that bled And you locked me out in the cold How do you mourn somebody who's still breathing? How do you bury a lie that you're told? [Verse 3] You swore I went looking for trouble In the places it didn't exist While you hid your screen like a weapon Kept your secrets balled up in your fist Left me standing out in the entry Bolted every lock from behind Then acted shocked when I noticed There was something you didn't want me to find Maybe all that you ever gave him Were some letters glowing in blue One loose thread ain't much by itself Till it pulls the whole sweater in two [Chorus] I wasn't losing my mind, I was losing my faith And God knows the difference cuts deep You took a house full of ghosts I was trying to survive And gave me a new one to keep Handed you the keys to the places that bled And you locked me out in the cold How do you mourn somebody who's still breathing? How do you bury a lie that you're told? [Bridge] (Spoken or half-sung, stripped back to bare instrumentation) And the thing that keeps me up at night ain't him. Ain't what happened. Ain't what didn't. It's that dark room at the end of the hall— The one with the single chair. You knew what lived in there. You knew those walls were built from funeral pews, Hospital fluorescent lights, and midnight phone calls. Names I still choke on when I try to say 'em out loud. And somehow... You still found a way to make yourself another ghost inside it. [Verse 4] (Music swells back in, heavy and slow) Now some nights I walk down that hallway Same as I did years before Passing everyone that the grave took Counting up the missing more And I hate that your shadow's hanging Right beside the ones who died They didn't have a choice in leaving You looked right at me and lied [Final Chorus] I wasn't losing my mind, I was losing my faith Yeah, I finally know which is worse One makes a man think he's going insane The other just makes a man hurt Handed you the keys to the places that bled Now the locks have all rusted through I know how to mourn the ones that heaven took Damn you for making me mourn you too [Outro] (Beat drops out, just a lone acoustic or faint ambient pad) Last door on the left. Still there. Chair still waiting. I used to think that room was loneliness. Turns out... it's just acceptance. A quiet place where all the things I couldn't save Finally come to rest. So tonight, I walked in and sat down. And for the first time... Your name didn't echo back.
