I Left the Light On

(Intimate, spacious, tender. Older sister / protector POV — asymmetrical love. Not a blame song. Quiet grief + self-retained love. Theme: loving someone without access or resolution. Let the silence between lines do some of the work.)

Verse 1

I was busy keeping you safe from the noise
Learning the difference between fear and choice
We grew up quiet, learned to behave
I learned early how to be brave

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Verse 2

We talked more when we got older
But it always felt a little colder
Years went by without a sound
Still I kept you close somehow

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Chorus

I left the light on in the room we never talked in
Said you’d come, I don’t know when
I’m not angry, I’m just learning how to
Love you without losing myself again

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Verse 3

When I was breaking, barely here
You said you’d come, I held that near
Then silence settled in your place
And I learned how absence has a face

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Chorus

I left the light on in the room we never talked in
Door still open, heart still kind
I’m not waiting, I’m just choosing
Not to disappear to keep you in my life

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Bridge

Maybe you needed quiet, maybe I needed you
Maybe we both did the best we knew how to do
But I learned how to speak when you learned how to leave
And now I’m fluent in things you don’t want to read

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Final Chorus

I left the light on in the room we never talked in
Not as a promise, just a sign
That I love you, but I’m learning
How to be yours without giving up mine

Warm, Raw Female Alto. Barefoot Americana, Gospel And Blues With Heart, Dirt, And Grace. Intimate And True.