The Seat Beside You

I used to see you waiting with that smile I rarely earned

You saved a place beside you, hoping one day I'd return

But I was chasing something distant, something I could never hold

And left your quiet patience turning quietly to cold

I thought you'd always be there

So I never stopped to see

Now the seat beside you

Feels heavier than silence

A place I should have filled with laughter

A life I should have shared with you

Now the seat beside you

Reminds me what I wasted

The moments that I could have chosen

And the love I never grew

You waited through the evenings while I counted other things

Believing we'd have time again to stitch up every seam

But time is not a promise and love is not a clock

And now I'm standing at the doorway where the echoes never stop

I traded all our minutes

For a life that never stayed

Now the seat beside you

Feels heavier than silence

A place I should have filled with laughter

A life I should have shared with you

Now the seat beside you

Reminds me what I wasted

The moments that I could have chosen

And the love I never grew

If I could sit beside you

Just once to make it right

I'd tell you that I see now

What was right there in my sight

Now the seat beside you

Still waits in every memory

A quiet, broken invitation

To the life I didn't choose

Now the seat beside you

Is where my heart keeps sinking

Because I thought we'd have forever

But forever's what I lose