How Can You Tell Me That You Love Me

Verse 1
You say it like it’s simple,
Like it’s already true.
Like love is just a sentence
I’m supposed to take from you.
But your silence has a pattern,
And your tone can turn so cold.
You hand me something fragile
Then blame me when it folds.

Pre-Chorus
If love is what you’re offering,
Why does it feel like war?

Chorus
How can you tell me that you love me
While you’re pushing me away?
How can you say forever
But disappear the next day?
If love is meant to hold me,
Why do I brace for the fall?
How can you tell me that you love me
When it doesn’t feel like love at all?

Verse 2
You measure every weakness,
Keep a ledger in your head.
Every time I try to speak,
You rewrite what I just said.
You say I’m too sensitive,
Too reactive, too intense.
But I’m just trying to stand inside
The truth of what you meant.

Pre-Chorus
If love is safe and steady,
Why am I walking on glass?

Chorus
How can you tell me that you love me
While you’re sharpening your words?
How can you say you hear me
When I’m never really heard?
If love is meant to see me,
Why do I feel so small?
How can you tell me that you love me
When it doesn’t feel like love at all?

Bridge
Maybe love is different
In the story that you tell.
Maybe mine is quieter—
Not something I have to sell.
If I have to shrink to keep it,
That’s not who I can be.
Love shouldn’t feel like proving
Why I’m worthy just to breathe.

Final Chorus
So how can you tell me that you love me
If I’m afraid of what you’ll say?
How can you promise shelter
When I’m standing in your rain?
If love is meant to lift me,
Why am I crawling down the hall?
You can tell me that you love me—
But it doesn’t feel like love at all

Soft piano solo with emotional breaking vocals, male, live