When the Bells Remember

Mm Hear the town breathe low and slow Every stone knows what we don’t say Time walks barefoot through these streets And listens anyway I learned to fold my dreams like letters Never sent never signed I played my songs for empty pews Let the dust keep time They say boy don’t reach so high Stay where your feet can stand So I learned to live inside the sound Of my own quiet hands But every night the bell above Still hums your name in tune Like it’s waiting for the truth To finally come through If the bells remember What we were afraid to say Then they know I loved you Even when I walked away I wore silence like armor I called fear a plan But the bells remember Who I am They gave me rooms with golden doors And a life that looked just right A future framed in certainty Quiet dinners quiet nights But my heart kept tapping time To a song I couldn’t choose Safe is just another word For something you can lose I hear the echo of your voice In places I outgrew Like the truth I never said Still waits for me and you If the bells remember Every promise dressed as fear Then they know I almost stayed But almost disappeared I chose comfort over fire I chose fine over I am But the bells remember Who I am We were standing in the middle Of a moment dressed as time One step closer to the truth One step back in line Love was louder than our courage But softer than our doubt We felt the bell begin to ring Then tried to drown it out You didn’t stay You didn’t ask I was breaking I was scared We were young and we were honest Till honesty got hard We mistook survival For guarding our hearts If the bells remember Let them ring us into light Not the ones we used to be But the ones who choose to fight For the love that waits in daylight Not the ghosts we couldn’t stand Let the bells remember Who we are Some dreams wait patiently For truth to say its name And when the bells remember us We’re never quite the same