[Vocal]
[Soft, intimate female vocal. Barely above a whisper in the verses. Emotion builds naturally without overpowering the lyrics.]
[Instrumentation]
[Felt piano, cello, ambient strings, subtle acoustic guitar entering in Verse 2. No drums until the final chorus.]
[Verse 1]
I miss the girl I used to be.
She still believed that love was safe.
She laughed without thinking twice.
She carried hope across her face.
She’d just buried her best friend.
Still learning how to breathe again.
Then I stood beside my father’s grave…
Never knowing what was waiting then.
[Pre-Chorus]
I thought I’d already met
The hardest days
I’d ever have.
I didn’t know
There were more.
[Chorus]
I miss
The version of me
Before I knew your name.
Before my heart
Learned another kind of pain.
I’d already lost so much.
I didn’t know
There was still
So much left to lose.
Sometimes…
I don’t even recognize
The woman I became
After you.
[Verse 2]
You didn’t just leave with pieces.
You changed the way I see.
Every promise sounds a little quieter.
Every goodbye lasts too long with me.
I carry Lindsey.
I carry Dad.
Now I carry everything we couldn’t be.
Some days grief feels less like waves…
And more like learning
How to live beneath the sea.
[Pre-Chorus]
People tell me
Time keeps moving.
Maybe it does…
But some parts of me
Stayed behind.
[Bridge]
Sometimes I wonder
If she’d recognize me.
The girl
Who still believed
People meant
The words they said.
I’d tell her
To keep her heart open.
Because none of this
Was her fault.
But I’d also tell her…
To hold herself
A little tighter.
[Final Chorus]
I miss
The woman
Who hadn’t learned
How heavy love could become.
Before the phone calls.
Before the silence.
Before another goodbye
I wasn’t ready for.
I can’t go back.
I know I can’t.
But if I ever find
Pieces of her again…
I think
I’ll hold on tighter
This time.
[Outro]
I miss
Who I was…
Before grief
Learned my name.
