what stayed

Verse 1

Your laugh was gone by early March

Your hands I lost by June

But the flinch stayed like a calendar

That only tracks the wound

The good parts needed photographs

The bad ones just came through

A door that closes at the wrong speed

And suddenly it's you

Pre-Chorus

Two years I tried to keep you kind

My body kept a different draft

The love took work to hold in line

The damage didn't have to ask

Chorus

What stayed, what stayed

Was a flinch without a name

What stayed, what stayed

Was the body, was the blame

I lost your laugh, I lost your face

But my guts still know May

What stayed, what stayed

The hurt you left, burden I carry

Verse 2

The good ones need a song to breathe

A season or a street

The bad ones don't need anything

They show up on repeat

I can't remember what you wore

But I can feel the weight

Of every hand that wasn't holding

Every absence held too late

Pre-Chorus

Two years and love is just a rumor

Something someone swore was real

My skin kept better documentation

Than anything I feel

Chorus

What stayed, what stayed

A couch, a blur of tears and laughter

What stayed, what stayed

Was the wall and the morning after

I lost my Christmas, lost the song

My ribs still know the inventory

What stayed, what stayed

Was the hurt dressed up as story

Bridge

Ask me what I loved about you

I'll need a minute, maybe two

Ask me what you never answered

And watch me vanish into you

The flinch is the most honest thing

You ever left behind

I tried to keep it gentle

And the body draws the line

Chorus

What stayed, what stayed

Was the story I couldn't clear

What stayed, what stayed

Was the stain, was the fear

I lost my laugh, I lost my face

But I don't bend that way anymore

Outro

I stayed, I stayed

Don't let them forget my name

I'm not the mess you made

I am the one who stayed

I am the one who stayed

You can't lock a restless mind

I am the one who stayed

I am the one who stayed

I am the one who stayed

I am

I am

I am

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