the almost that never ends.

I saw you there in the blur of a passing crowd
Just a second, just a flicker, but it shook me loud
You looked like someone I once knew by heart
A ghost in daylight pulling me apart
And isn't it cruel how one glance can undo
All the miles I've walked without you?

I told myself I'd outgrown the ache
But some memories don't know how to fade

And I still wonder what we could've been
If you had tried the way I did, back then
If loving me wasn't something you wore thin
If forever wasn't just another word you'd spin
Because I loved you in ways I'll never love again
But you never learned how to hold me the same

You were always almost there
Close enough to promise, far enough to disappear
I kept giving pieces I couldn't replace
You kept losing me somewhere behind your chase
I was ready to spend a lifetime by your side
But I lived alone even when you were mine

And now I see your eyes, distant and fine
And wonder if you ever think of mine

And I still wonder what we could've been
If you had stayed when the walls caved in
If you had loved me with more than a half-hearted try
If you had fought for us instead of letting it die
Because I loved you in ways I'll never love again
But you never learned what it meant to be my man

Maybe in another life you choose to stay
Maybe in another life you learn the hard way
That love like mine doesn't come twice
And losing it, God, you paid the price

I watched you fade into the crowd once more
Just another chapter I can't rewrite anymore
You'll never know the life I pictured with your name
The home, the warmth, the years I would've claimed

And I still ache for what we could've been
A story I carried long after it dimmed
You were supposed to be my lifelong friend
But you loved me least when I loved you best
And though I'd burn the world just to feel you again
I know now, you were never meant to stay in the end

So I breathe you out in shattered sighs
A ghost I lost, a future that died
And maybe someday this hurt will mend
But you'll always be the almost that never ends