The Story After All

[Verse 1]
I kept the medal in a kitchen drawer
Beside the keys I never learned to mend
Some doors swung wide; some closed before I knocked
I called them endings, then began again

[Pre-Chorus]
You can see the whole road from the last page
Every wrong turn had a name

[Chorus]
So read me as I was, not as I meant to be
A hand that held, a hand that let things fall
The good I gave, the hurt I couldn't see
All of it belongs inside the story after all

[Verse 2]
Your old blue cup still wears a hairline crack
The shelf we built leans slightly to the left
I missed the years that asked me to come back
Then learned to stay, though nothing paid me back

[Pre-Chorus]
You can see the whole road from the last page
Every wrong turn had a name

[Chorus]
So read me as I was, not as I meant to be
A hand that held, a hand that let things fall
The good I gave, the hurt I couldn't see
All of it belongs inside the story after all

[Bridge]
If I could speak across those paper years
I'd tell that younger heart: keep room for change
No life is only triumph or regret
The sum is more than either one can claim

[Final Chorus]
So read me as I was, and let the pages close
The brave, the vain, the tender, and the small
I made a life from choices, some well made, some not
And every line became the story after all

[Outro]
Set the book beside the window
Let the final sentence rest