Verse 1
A dusty album untouched for years, faded photographs inside
A mountain stream so clear you almost feel the cool air
Familiar faces smiling back, so young and full of light
I never knew that was our golden days until they slipped away
Now here we stand — old friends wearing grown-up faces, almost strangers

Verse 2
Pill packets left alone upon the kitchen table
A woman who spent her whole life wringing out each day with weathered hands
She seemed to leave having done everything she came to do
A man now drifting, incomplete, somewhere beyond this world
Each one carrying their own unseen records, unspoken wishes

Chorus
Ah, these tears I held back for so long —
are they flowing now, or finally melting?
Tonight they fall quietly into my heart
We traded the dreams we swore to keep for grocery receipts
Yet still I hold the people who walked on without a word

Verse 3
Someone’s hand, warm as a heartbeat, held in childhood
A memory that filled me up with courage
Someone’s angel smile, faint and soft, turned toward me
A memory that filled me up with warmth

Bridge
Even if I never knew your darkest nights and early mornings
Even if you say your youth crumbled away like ash and ember
You were the most beautiful poem in my entire world
Truly, the most beautiful poem

Outro
If I’ve only now sat down beneath the cold kitchen light, too late —
Then let me find you in a dream, at that same table
And gently take your tired, thin hands in mine
You are my precious, unchanged
(Piano and strings swell emotionally, then fade out warmly)