After The Echo

**Verse 1**
I’ve been tracing cracks in the ceiling
Like constellations I used to believe in
Every word you left on my tongue
Tastes like smoke from a fire that’s done

I kept your name in my chest like a warning
Beat my heart just to feel something forming
But resurrection feels like a sin
When the ghost knows better than to let me in

**Pre-Chorus**
I tried to save what was killing me
Called it love just to justify the bleed

**Chorus**
You’re an echo in the quiet now
Still loud when the world shuts down
I feel you most when I’m almost whole
Then you fade like a shadow I can’t hold
I’m learning how to breathe without
The weight of you inside my mouth
You’re not gone, you just don’t belong
You’re the afterimage—I’m moving on

**Verse 2**
I dug too deep in the aftermath
Turned regret into a well I couldn’t climb back from
You wore my fear like a crown
Taught me silence is how love sounds

I kept forgiving like it was faith
Kept bending just to keep you safe
But every promise you couldn’t keep
Left another scar under my skin, still asleep

**Pre-Chorus**
I called it hope, but it was decay
A slow goodbye I couldn’t say

**Chorus**
You’re an echo in the quiet now
Still loud when the world shuts down
I feel you most when I’m almost whole
Then you fade like a shadow I can’t hold
I’m learning how to breathe without
The weight of you inside my mouth
You’re not gone, you just don’t belong
You’re the afterimage—I’m moving on

**Bridge**
If I see you in my dreams tonight
I won’t reach out, I won’t rewind
I’ll let you pass like a stranger’s face
Another memory losing its shape

I won’t exhume what I laid to rest
Some love survives by being left

**Breakdown / Soft Outro Lift**
I forgive you
I release you
I don’t need you to disappear

**Final Chorus**
You’re an echo, nothing more
Just a sound I was before
You can haunt the dark behind my eyes
But you don’t get my life this time
I’m finally learning how to stay
When the ghosts all drift away
You’re a chapter I outgrew
A forgotten voice I once knew

**Outro**
Fade out
Fade out
I’m still here
And you’re fading now

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Atmospheric post-hardcore with alt-metal feel and emotive clean vocals