In time we learned to wait

To gather all the leaves

Until the last one fell

Away from the tree

Over my shoulder, I saw

You looking back over yours

How easy would it be now

That we know what we know?

All this time we spent waiting around

Putting off all the issues too big to face

In favor of the smallest of things that we could actually do

To feel as though we tried something

At least we know we did something

Hushed by the sound

Of your diastole

Tenuous the grasp

Til we were asked to leave

It’s not keeping it so you won’t forget

It’s letting yourself believe you won’t

It’s not welcoming sunlight through the shades

It’s getting yourself up out of bed

It’s not realizing just how bad it was

It’s realizing just how bad it gets

We last spoke about the future

And doesn’t it seem naive

All the things we thought we’d see?

In time we learned to let

The closest ones see

What we’d been hiding

Underneath the fallen leaves

Outside my window, I saw

No one was looking out yours

The best that I could explain

You finally packed your things and moved away

All this time wondering who’d be there

If we’d just gone and knocked on the door

But we just rationalized that probably you weren’t home

At least you know we thought of you

At least we know we did something