The Cost of Love

Verse 1

They say love is warm and gentle, like a sunrise on your skin,

but they never show the moments where you’re scared to let it in.

Every “I am here forever” has a trembling in the bones,

’cause to open up your heart wide is to let it lose its throne.

I have loved with both my hands out, I have watched it fall apart,

held a little piece of heaven, then a funeral in my heart.

Now I stand here with the question beating louder than before:

if the consequence is heartbreak, is it worth unlocking doors?

Pre–Chorus

If the deeper that I love you means the more I stand to lose,

how do I keep saying “yes” when my fear says “never choose”?

Is the shaking in my chest proof that there is something real,

or a warning from the past saying “don’t you ever feel”?

Chorus

If the consequence of love is fear,

and without fear there is no love,

then I’ll hold both in my hands,

let them tremble, let them touch.

I don’t want a safe, small life

where I never risk my heart,

I would rather shake and cry

than stay numb and live apart.

So I’ll learn to sit with fear,

let it ride inside the flood,

’cause the price of feeling scared

is the proof that this is love.

Verse 2

I’ve seen love turn into distance, I’ve seen trust wear thin and break,

seen a hug after betrayal be the breath that people take.

I have watched two broken people choose to stay and do the work,

swallow pride like bitter medicine and still say “you’re my home.”

Maybe fear is not the enemy but the shadow of the risk,

like the wind before the thunder when the sky begins to shift.

If I never feel that shaking, if I never lose my air,

then I never let love reach me, never let you really there.

Bridge

How do we reconcile the beauty and the ache?

Maybe love is not the promise that our hearts will never break.

Maybe love is choosing presence when escape would feel like peace,

letting fear sit at the table but not giving it the lead.

Maybe courage isn’t loud, maybe courage softly says,

“I can feel that I am shaking and I’ll love you anyway.”

So when I am most afraid, I will look at you and know:

this is love in human skin, this is how the brave hearts grow.