Wanting and the Promise

[Verse 1]
I want your hand to find mine in a crowded room
Want your eyes to say I’m still the one you choose
Then I count the doors that opened when I made it through
And wonder if the clapping means I’m known by you

[Pre-Chorus]
I keep a ledger in my chest
Of every vow I haven’t met
The hungry part says, “Take your turn”
The faithful part says, “Wait, return”

[Chorus]
How do I hold the wanting and the promise?
How do I climb and still look back?
I can reach for love without possessing
I can build without becoming what I lack
Let the good I leave be more than my name
Let the ones I love not pay for my flame
I won’t make one voice rule over all
I’ll hear them—and answer when they call

[Verse 2]
I want the work to matter when my hands are gone
A kinder room for those who have to carry on
But every bright ambition has a shadowed cost
And someone waits at home when I get lost

[Pre-Chorus]
The promise isn’t just a chain
It’s how I keep my word through change
I can revise the road I take
But not pretend the hearts won’t break

[Chorus]
How do I hold the wanting and the promise?
How do I climb and still look back?
I can reach for love without possessing
I can build without becoming what I lack
Let the good I leave be more than my name
Let the ones I love not pay for my flame
I won’t make one voice rule over all
I’ll hear them—and answer when they call

[Breakdown]
Name what I want
Name what I owe
Who needs my presence?
What can I let go?
No crown is worth the people left waiting
No vow is alive if it asks me to stop changing

[Final Chorus]
I can hold the wanting and the promise
I can rise and keep my word intact
I’ll reach for love with open hands now
I’ll do the work and tend the ties I have
Let the good I leave be shared, not claimed
Let my ambition learn a gentler name
When all my voices rise and call
I’ll choose with care—and carry all

[Outro]
Not every hunger needs the wheel
Not every duty means stand still
I can want, and I can stay
I can choose again each day