Lanterns We Left Behind

Verse

The attic box still smells like cedar wood

Your jacket sleeve is soft and good

I fold the scarf you left behind

Not to keep but just to find

Six years of photos, torn at edges

Some names I don't remember faces

But your smile on the fourth page catches

Right before it turns to haze

Pre-Chorus

Maybe letting go means keeping

This one corner soft and clean

Chorus

I'm carrying lanterns we left behind

Not as weight but like a map that finds its way

Every scar has turned to a constellation line

I was lost but I am learning how to shine

Holding on doesn't mean staying in the same place

It's lifting up what still carries your face

Verse

The river froze the summer you were gone

Your sneakers stuck to the bank like stone

But the willows unfroze before the snow

Now they leaf again, let the current go

I found that silver locket buried deep

Underneath a map where we could sleep

Not holding it as proof of pain

Just holding it like a river holds its rain

Pre-Chorus

Maybe letting go means keeping

This one corner soft and clean

Chorus

I'm carrying lanterns we left behind

Not as weight but like a map that finds its way

Every scar has turned to a constellation line

I was lost but I am learning how to shine

Holding on doesn't mean staying in the same place

It's lifting up what still carries your face

Bridge

Maybe grief is just a door you open wide

Not to stay inside but to find some light

Every goodbye becomes an echo that lifts

I used to think I'd never hold my own breath yet

Chorus

I'm carrying lanterns we left behind

Not as weight but like a map that finds its way

Every scar has turned to a constellation line

I was lost but I am learning how to shine

Holding on doesn't mean staying in the same place

It's lifting up what still carries your face

Outro

I'm carrying lanterns we left behind

Not as weight but like a map that finds its way