When the Lanterns Fade

I found your letter in the seam of my coat

Folded like a season I never outgrew

The paper smelled faintly of rain and smoke

And all of my yesterdays rushed back through

Now the evening leans in close

Like it knows the names we used to know

So let the lanterns fade, let the quiet stay

We were a fire that the wind could not tame

In the falling light, I still hear you say

Some things are lost, but they don’t go away

Oh, I carry the glow, I carry the ache

In the tender space that your memory makes

The old train station still hums by the hill

Same blue bench, same cracked paint, same song

I half expect you to be waiting there still

With a smile that made the cold feel warm

Now the evening leans in close

Like it knows the names we used to know

So let the lanterns fade, let the quiet stay

We were a fire that the wind could not tame

In the falling light, I still hear you say

Some things are lost, but they don’t go away

Oh, I carry the glow, I carry the ache

In the tender space that your memory makes

If the road bends back to where we began

I’d walk it slow just to feel that hand

Not to rewrite what the river has claimed

Only to bless every beautiful change

So let the lanterns fade, let the quiet stay

We were a fire that the wind could not tame

In the falling light, I still hear you say

Some things are lost, but they don’t go away

Oh, I carry the glow, I carry the ache

In the tender space that your memory makesAnd if the night asks what we became

I’ll say we were light with a delicate flame

Still warm in the dark, still calling my name