[Intro]
(strings building, piano underneath)
[Verse 1]
I threw it all away when I was seventeen
Had something real to hold and couldn’t keep it clean
The mat was mine the work was there the talent was in place
I let it slip right through my hands and watched it leave without a trace
Now I stand beside a version of that thing I let go
But it ain’t mine this time and that’s the most important thing I know
I watch him lace his shoes and something tightens in my chest
Because he wants this more than I ever gave my best
[Hook]
He’s not carrying what I lost
This is his not mine to claim
I just showed him where to stand
He did everything else
He built his own name
[Verse 2]
He pushes me to push him harder every single day
The hunger isn’t something I installed it was already that way
Born with something in him that I recognize but different
Like the version of the thing I had but sharper and more driven
Two times they’ve raised his hand and I have felt something shift
Each time like something heavy getting pulled up off a cliff
Not because it heals the thing I threw away back then
But because watching him I see what it could have been
Top ten in the country at six years old
I never got to dream that big before everything went cold
[Bridge]
(stripped back — piano only)
I was varsity four years
I had the thing
I just couldn’t hold it
Couldn’t do what I needed
And now I watch him do it
Without even trying
That’s not failure anymore
That’s something I can’t name
Something I carry different now
Something that feels like grace
[Chorus]
When they raise his hand
The hair stands up on my arms
Everything he worked for
Everything he’s becoming
I won’t call it redemption
Because it’s not mine to own
But standing in his corner
Is the closest thing to home
I’ve ever known
[Verse 3]
Every morning that he wakes up wanting more than yesterday
Every practice where he pushes past the point where most kids say
That’s enough I’ll try again tomorrow
He goes further and I feel it somewhere past the marrow
The road he’s on I’m making sure he never has to see
The other ones I traveled every wrong turn inside of me
Every year I spent in someone else’s life afraid
Every version of myself I failed before I paid
The price of finally getting up and getting it right
He don’t need to know that road
He’s already in the light
[Chorus]
When they raise his hand
The hair stands up on my arms
Everything he worked for
Everything he’s becoming
I won’t call it redemption
Because it’s not mine to own
But standing in his corner
Is the closest thing to home
I’ve ever known
[Final Bridge]
(strings swell)
I don’t need him to carry
Anything I left behind
I just need him to keep going
With that fire that was never mine to give him
He already had it
I just got to be the one who showed up
Who stayed
Who was there every single time
[Outro]
(piano fading)
When they raise his hand
I feel it
Not as mine
As his
And that’s better
That’s everything
Go get it
