Lyric

I left before the evening

With your street inside my head

The station lights were trembling

On the pavement turning red

My collar held the weather

My shoes took in the gray

I was walking toward your building

With nothing wise to say

You had not done anything

To make me turn around

That was the worst part of it

No reason could be found

Your door was not a distance

Your name was not a wound

But every step grew heavier

The closer I got to you

Rain on the walkway

Kept moving when I could not

Past the corner, past the curb

Past the courage I forgot

Rain on the walkway

Made a river at my feet

I was headed for your doorway

Then I stopped across the street

The grocery sign was buzzing

Like a tired little star

One more turn would show me

The window where you are

I knew the second doorway

The brass plate by the stairs

The place your hand would reach for

If you heard me standing there

I tried to blame the weather

The hour, the aching light

But rain was only falling

It had not changed my mind

The truth was small and useless

Too plain to make me clean

I loved you from the sidewalk

And still stayed in between

Rain on the walkway

Kept moving when I could not

Past the corner, past the curb

Past the courage I forgot

Rain on the walkway

Made a river at my feet

I was headed for your doorway

Then I stopped across the street

There are softer ways to fail you

Than a slammed door in the night

There are quiet forms of leaving

That still leave the damage bright

I never meant to vanish

With your room still close ahead

But meaning is a small thing

When the street goes home instead

Rain on the walkway

Kept falling without blame

It did not know your window

It did not know my name

Rain on the walkway

Was the only thing that moved

I had love enough to reach you

Not enough to follow through

My shoes dried by morning

But the guilt stayed in the seams

Your door remained before me

In the weather of my dreams