If Letting You Go Is Love

[Verse 1]
I would give you the green of the hillside
Every stone on the old boreen
I would string you a chain out of mornings
And lay all your worries clean
I would gather the tide in my two hands
Turn the wind if it hurt your face
I would trade my own name for your laughter
I would bend both time and place
[Chorus]
But if letting you go is love
Then I’ll loosen my fingers
One by one
You can carry my heart like a small white dove
To a sky I might never see
I will love you enough to leave you free
[Verse 2]
I have watched how your eyes chase horizons
Past the roofs and the harbor wall
There’s a map that is drawn in your heartbeat
I can’t read
Though I’ve tried through it all
So I’ll pack you a bag full of blessings
Fold a kiss in your shirt sleeve hem
And I’ll stand where the road meets the river
Till the water forgets your steps
[Chorus]
If letting you go is love
Then I’ll loosen my fingers
One by one
You can carry my heart like a small white dove
To a sky I might never see
I will love you enough to leave you free
[Bridge]
Maybe one day the road will bend
Back through this town
Back to my door (oh love)
Or maybe your name will only be
A soft old song I hum once more
[Chorus]
If letting you go is love
Then I’ll loosen my fingers
One by one
You can carry my heart like a small white dove
To a sky I might never see
I will love you enough to leave you free
I will love you enough
To set you free

Tender Irish ballad with alto female vocals, lilting low whistle countermelodies, soft heartbeat drum on the low end, and delicate harp arpeggios. Intimate verses begin almost a cappella with sparse harp; whistle weaves in on turnarounds. Chorus blooms with fuller drum and layered wordless harmonies. Subtle swell on the bridge, then gentle fade to a fragile final line and whispered whistle outro., world, harp, ballad