Paper plates on the table
Half a candle still burning low
Your coat still hangs in the hallway
Like you forgot to go
Empty glass on the counter
Lipstick stain I can't throw away
I keep washing the same two dishes
Staring holes in yesterday
Everyone said we were lucky
Perfect on the outside
Clean
But we cracked in the quiet moments
Where nobody else had ever seen
After the fireworks
After the friends all fade
I’m standing in the kitchen
Still hearing your name
After the promises
After the fights and the blame
I’m left with the echo
Echo
And a frame with your face
Found your note in the bedroom
Folded tight in the second drawer
You wrote
"I’m tired of being brave"
I should’ve asked you more
All the plans on the fridge door
Little magnets holding broken dreams
I trace circles round the places
Where your handwriting used to be
Everybody says I’ll be fine
"Give it time
You’ll heal
You’ll mend"
They don’t see me at the window
Counting cars like you’re in one of them
Maybe we were just two scared kids
Trying to fix what we never broke
Holding on like it proved something
Til the love turned into smoke
If you ever pass this old house
And you feel that pull inside
Know the porch light’s still burning
But the boy you loved has learned to cry