I Kept the Light On

Intro

ah-ah, ah-ah (oh)

uh-huh, uh-huh

Verse

There was a coffee cup with lipstick on the rim

A note half-folded where the numbers sink in

You left the porch light on but not the promise, no

We learned to eat around the silence, plate by plate, slow

Mama hums a song that's missing all the words (mama, mama)

Dad's laughter got tired, it stopped showing up for thirds

The calendar's a calendar of unpaid truths and small alarms

Birthday balloons deflated in a drawer with our child's charms

Pre-chorus

We traded warm nights for coin-counting prayers

We traded good mornings for tired stares (yeah)

If love was a ledger, the sums never made sense

If holding on was saving, we lost more than cents

Chorus

I kept the light on for you, I kept the light on (I kept the light on)

I kept the light on for you, I kept the light on (oh-oh)

I folded every letter and put it in a drawer

I kept the light on for you, I kept the light on (I kept the light on)

Verse

There was a school backpack with a crayon-colored tear

A secret beneath the pillow where we left the fear

Neighbors said we're fine, said everything's okay

But they don't see the quiet when the kids don't want to play

I write 'I'm sorry' in the margins of the rent receipt

You call it survival, I call it learning how to leave

We learned to speak in small things — laundromat change, spare keys

We learned to say 'we tried' and swallow how it leaves

Pre-chorus

Bills slide across the table like thin, polite goodbyes

So we become strangers who still know each other's lies (yeah)

If faith was a promise, ours came loose at both ends

If love was a river, we couldn't find where it bends

Chorus

I kept the light on for you, I kept the light on (I kept the light on)

I kept the light on for you, I kept the light on (oh-oh)

I folded every letter and put it in a drawer

I kept the light on for you, I kept the light on (I kept the light on)

Bridge

Maybe one day we'll sit and say the things we never said (oh)

Maybe you'll hold a photograph and finally look ahead (yeah)

I am not the blame, I'm not the reason things fell through

I'm the small hand learning how to start again without you

Ma-ma, pa-pa, I'm calling names into the dark (ma-ma, pa-pa)

Some nights I light a match and watch the past unmark (oh-oh)

Forgiveness is a slow road with a soft, uneven pace

I keep a chair for someone who might not come back to this place

Chorus

I kept the light on for you, I kept the light on (I kept the light on)

I kept the light on for you, I kept the light on (oh-oh)

I folded every letter and put it in a drawer

I kept the light on for you, I kept the light on (I kept the light on)