Persevere

I never got to kiss your head

Ah, Emme

And the call came the week I got divorced

I thought I had a real understanding then of loss

But I didn't know a thing 'til you were gone

And I'm tired of trying to find some sort of

Meaningful thing

In making sense of such unspeakable loss

But as I'm staring at your folks

The sweetest people I know

I get a glimpse of what it is to be strong

Just holding hands and sobbing with sunglasses on

'Cause nothing tuned me in

To absurdity as fast

As a gravestone with the name

Of a baby that has passed

I used to wanna be important

Now I just wanna be alive

And without fear

You got to persevere

I couldn't count the times

I've ragged on heaven

As an opiate invented by the weak

It's an argument I hate

'Cause I'm content to love the fates

But it comes up a lot with Emme's dad and me

So I'm shotgun in the car

And we're just shooting the shit

And predictably the talking turns to God

So I throw him 40 lines

How I don't think he exists

And he just smiles and

Takes a dignified pause

Says, "It's okay to feel unbelievably lost"

But God is full of grace

And his faithfulness is vast

There is safety in the moments

When the shit has hit the fan

Not some vindictive motherfucker

Nor is he shitty at his job

What words to hear

And I'm a mess by now

'Cause nothing tuned me in to my

Failure as fast

As grieving for a friend with more belief than I possessed

It's not some disembodied heaven

He assured me, then he laughed

And says through tears

You got to persevere

Persevere

Persevere

Persevere

We threw a party up in here