Hard love

Verse 1

I wake up already tired of my name

Like I’ve been disappointing people in my sleep

There’s a dent in the mattress where you used to lay

I keep it there like it’s proof you were real to me

I rehearse conversations you’ll never hear

Apologies that don’t land anymore

I still flinch when my phone lights up

Like maybe you forgot what you were leaving for

Pre-Chorus

I’m not good at being alone

But I’m getting practice now

I talk to your ghost in the hallway

Like it might talk back somehow

Chorus

I loved you in the quiet ways

I never learned how to say

I let my fear do all the talking

While you slowly slipped away

If loving me felt like drowning

I guess I held you under too

I didn’t mean to make you lonely

I just didn’t know what to do

Verse 2

There’s a box in my closet I won’t unpack

It smells like your shampoo and regret

I tell my friends I’m doing “okay”

Which is just code for “not dead yet”

You said I push people away to feel in control

Like leaving first hurts less somehow

I swear I was trying to stay

I just didn’t know how to let you down easy, wow

Pre-Chorus

I keep waiting for closure

Like it’s something I deserve

But all I got is the echo

Of every unreturned word

Chorus

I loved you in the quiet ways

I never learned how to say

I turned my heart into a joke

So you wouldn’t see it shake

If loving me felt like drowning

I guess I held you under too

I didn’t mean to make you lonely

I just didn’t know what to do

Bridge

If I’m honest, I still check your street

When I’m driving home too late

Like maybe I’ll catch your lights on

And pretend it’s not too late

I’d give anything to be braver then

To say “please stay” out loud

But I learned too late that silence

Can hurt just as much as howling now

Final Chorus

I loved you in the quiet ways

And now they’re all I hear

Every unsent message

Ringing in my ears

If loving me felt like drowning

I’m sorry I pulled you down

I hope you’re breathing somewhere

Even if I’m not around

Outro

I’m learning how to miss you

Without asking you to come back

But some nights

That feels like learning how to breathe

With half a lung intact.