I Leave the Board

[Verse 1]
I kept your old postcard beside the board,
Two queens crossed out, one name ignored.
We played the ending before the start,
A rook on the edge of my paper heart.
I count the turns I can’t reclaim,
The almost-kisses without a name.

[Pre-Chorus]
Every square says what it was;
Not every loss needs a because.

[Chorus]
I let the pieces fall where they may,
No backward move can make you stay.
The game is done; I lift my eyes,
Some roads are closed, and that’s all right.
I leave the board, I choose my way—
The past can keep its yesterday.

[Verse 2]
There was the one I never called,
A quiet checkmate in a crowded hall.
There was the love that ran its course,
A knight that turned, a changing force.
I won’t make ghosts defend their place;
I fold the board and give it space.

[Bridge]
No pawn can cross the years again,
No crown can tell me where I’ve been.
I bless the turns, the ones I missed;
Then open both hands from the fist.

[Final Chorus]
I let the pieces fall where they may,
No backward move can make you stay.
The game is done; I lift my eyes,
Some roads are closed, and that’s all right.
I leave the board, I choose my way—
The past can keep its yesterday.

[Outro]
I leave the board.
I choose my way.