The River Keeps Our Names (version 2)

Verse

Your boots left a trail of gravel dust and worn denim thread

The old swing creaks where the floorboards used to be

Grandma's rocking chair still holds its shape though it won't hold me

I remember summers spent counting fireflies like currency we'd never spend

You'd call it lazy; I called it learning patience in a field we had no name for

Pre-Chorus

So what do we keep and what let go of

Every branch that broke off still became something true

Maybe the land's already written our names in its own kind of script

I'm not scared, I just want to know where this map ends up

Tell me what it means when a porch light stays lit past sundown

Chorus

The river keeps our names under its current skin

Where the reeds still whisper what we said and what let in

Every stone I skip becomes another mile of home

We're not leaving, we just learned to love from farther on

Verse 2

Your jacket's still hanging by the screen door hinge

Static from the radio where we left it on the windowsill, the static's mine

I remember how you'd say 'it won't be forever' like forever wasn't even a word yet

Now I'm driving back through those same fields under different weather

The fences look smaller now but they still stand for something we built before we could measure it in hands

Pre-Chorus

So what do we keep and what let go of

Every branch that broke off still became something true

Maybe the land's already written our names in its own kind of script

I'm not scared, I just want to know where this map ends up

Tell me what it means when a porch light stays lit past sundown

Chorus

The river keeps our names under its current skin

Where the reeds still whisper what we said and what let in

Every stone I skip becomes another mile of home

We're not leaving, we just learned to love from farther on

Bridge

Maybe this isn't goodbye but a doorway we painted with mud and sun

Maybe distance's just the current learning how to carry us

I'll miss these fields like I miss my own small heartbeat in summer

But every river knows that roots go down deep so even when you leave the bend, you're still rooted somewhere

Chorus

The river keeps our names under its current skin

Where the reeds still whisper what we said and what let in

Every stone I skip becomes another mile of home

We're not leaving, we just learned to love from farther on