I Need Some Space

[Verse 1]
Your message waits beside the sink
My brother calls; I stop to think
The calendar has swallowed days
With names I love in colored rays
I give you all the careful words
Then lose the one I meant to say
My hands keep reaching out for everyone
While mine are slipping away

[Pre-Chorus]
I don't want less of you
I need a little room to breathe

[Chorus]
I can love you and still need space
A quiet hour, an unhurried place
I won't disappear, I won't let go
I need some ground where my own roots grow
The door stays open, the light stays on
I can come back whole when the day's gone
I can love you and still need space
And meet you with my whole heart again

[Verse 2]
Your son has lost his blue raincoat
My friend needs help to move a chair
Dad asks if I can make it Sunday
And I say yes before I'm there
I know the small things make a life
The rides, the meals, the staying late
But care can turn to keeping score
When I don't leave room to hesitate

[Pre-Chorus]
I don't want less of you
I need a little room to breathe

[Chorus]
I can love you and still need space
A quiet hour, an unhurried place
I won't disappear, I won't let go
I need some ground where my own roots grow
The door stays open, the light stays on
I can come back whole when the day's gone
I can love you and still need space
And meet you with my whole heart again

[Bridge]
Tonight I'll leave the dishes there
I'll let the phone ring once or twice
I'll sit beside the kitchen window
And hear the radiator click
No grand goodbye, no locked-out heart
No tally of who's owed what when
Just enough silence to remember
How to offer love again

[Breakdown]
Not a wall
Not a leaving
Just a breath
Just a minute

[Final Chorus]
I can love you and still need space
A quiet hour, an unhurried place
I won't disappear, I won't let go
I need some ground where my own roots grow
The door stays open, the light stays on
I can come back whole when the day's gone
I can love you and still need space
And meet you with my whole heart again

[Outro]
I'll call you when I can be here
Not only present, but truly near