If I Had Stayed

The hallway light kept burning long after I was gone

You waited in the quiet while the nights kept moving on

I told myself the work I did was worth the time we lost

But every empty evening shows me now what it all cost

I thought the world would crumble

If I ever slowed my pace

If I had stayed

You would have known you were the center

Of every dream I chased in circles

While you held our world alone

If I had stayed

Maybe the years would feel much softer

Maybe the house would still remember

All the love we should have grown

Your coffee getting colder while I answered every call

You held the days together, I was barely there at all

And now I see the photographs where I'm a fading ghost

A man who loved you deeply but was never really close

I thought I'd fix it later

But later's gone for good

If I had stayed

You would have known you were the center

Of every dream I chased in circles

While you held our world alone

If I had stayed

Maybe the years would feel much softer

Maybe the house would still remember

All the love we should have grown

I wish I'd learned that presence

Means more than any plan

The world keeps turning anyway

Without the things we think we need to stand

If I had stayed

I'd hold your face a little longer

I'd let the quiet say the truth

I never found the time to show

If I had stayed

Maybe you'd know what always mattered

And I'd be standing here beside you

Not a memory letting go