Before The Thaw

Remember how we sat in January cold

Hands wrapped round our cups

And everything felt old

The heating clicked and ticked

The street outside was grey

You said you couldn't feel

The point of another day

And I didn't have the answer

I just pulled you close

Sometimes that's the only thing

That helps the most

But nothing stays forever frozen

Not the ground, not the grief

Even the hardest winters

Have to come to leave

Before the thaw you can't see it coming

Before the dawn the dark feels long

Before the turn you can't feel the turning

But the season never stopped

The season never stopped

We've all got a February

Buried somewhere deep

A year that took too much

A loss we couldn't keep

A door that wouldn't open

A road that wouldn't clear

The kind of weight that follows

From the previous year

But look how far we've carried it

Look how far we've come

Still standing in the cold

Still facing up the sun

And nothing stays forever frozen

Not the heart, not the road

Even the heaviest shoulders

Learn to set down the load

It's not a lightning bolt

It's not a sign

It's just one morning

Feeling slightly fine

Then one day after that

Feeling it again

And suddenly the count

Outweighs the pain

And the birds come back

And the light runs long

And you find yourself

Humming an old song

So here we are in April

Something lifted, something changed

The same streets look different

Everything rearranged

Can't tell you when it shifted

Can't tell you what it cost

Only that we found it

After thinking it was lost

And maybe that's enough now

Maybe that's the truth

You don't need to see the summer

To make it through

Because nothing stays forever frozen

Not you, not me, not this

Even the longest silence

Breaks into something we've missed

Before the thaw you can't see it coming

Before the dawn the dark feels long

Before the turn you can't feel the turning

But the season never stopped

The season never stopped

The season never stopped