Lyric

I knew the hallway

Before I knew the room

The light at the center

Never reached me too soon

There was a chair

But it was never mine

Just close enough

To look like being inside

I learned the corner

I learned the frame

Where to stand

When you said my name

Not near the door

Not near your bed

Somewhere quiet

That you could forget

I called the edge a place

Because outside felt too far

I called the shadow grace

Because it came from where you are

The Side I Was Given

Was never close to the center

But I stood there like it meant

You had made room for me

The Side I Was Given

Was a corner of your life

Not enough to call it love

Too close to call goodbye

I knew your table

But not your plans

The glass in my reach

But not your hand

I knew the silence

After guests had gone

The version of you

That did not last till dawn

No pictures kept me

No story made space

I was near your outline

Never in your place

You let me enter

Where the night was thin

But not the life

You were living in

I called the margin home

Because it had your light

I called it being known

Because you let me stay some nights

The Side I Was Given

Was never close to the center

But I stood there like it meant

You had made room for me

The Side I Was Given

Was a corner of your life

Not enough to call it love

Too close to call goodbye

Maybe you placed me there

Maybe I did not move

Maybe I made peace

With what I could not prove

Maybe I liked the edge

When the edge still touched your name

Maybe I feared the center

Would never feel the same

You gave me a side

And I called it room

I mistook the margin

For being close to you

The side I kept accepting

Was never close to love

But I stood there like a man

Who thought near was enough

The side I kept accepting

Was a corner I outgrew

Not enough to be chosen

Too close to be through