The
bench is scraped and grey
Born down by the seaside air
The clock on the old town hall
Says twenty after four just like it did that year
I trace the initials carved into the weathered wood
You swore on your last names You knew that we both could
Make it back to this place When the world had let us go
Five years,
four seasons,
that was the deal The promise in the glow
Of that last summer sun Before you caught the train
And left me standing here
Holding on to the sound of
your name
And the tide keeps coming in
Washing clean the memory
But it won't wash away the ghost Of what you swore on me
This is the meeting place The anchor we were meant to hold
The story that was promised Now a legend growing cold
I wait beneath the streetlights Where the shadows start to crawl
Just me and the fading promise Watching time refuse to fall
Brought your favourite coffee Bitter,
black and sweet
But the heat left hours ago Now it's just a paperweight by my feet
I check my phone for service For a text or just a sign
A simple explanation A word that isn't mine
To fabricate a reason why the chair beside me's bare
A traffic jam,
a sudden illness A burden you couldn't bear
But the silence on the line is heavy It screams a different truth
You didn't forget the day You simply shed your youth
And the tide keeps coming in
Washing clean the memory
But it won't wash away the ghost Of what you swore on me
This is the meeting place The anchor we were meant to hold
The story that was promised Now a legend growing cold
I wait beneath the streetlights Where the shadows start to crawl
Just me and the fading promise Watching time refuse to fall
It was more than just a day It was a turn,
another page
A checkpoint in the desert A line we both agreed to gauge
If everything we dreamed of Was still worth the aching fight
If the love we left behind Still burned in the quiet of the night
But you didn't need the closure You didn't need the proof
You built a brand new life Beneath a brand new roof
And the space between us now Isn't distance on a map
It's the silence of a promise that snapped
The moon is hanging low A cynical,
indifferent eye
Casting silver on the pavement Where I finally start to cry
Not for the time I've wasted
Not for the cold and damp
But for the easy way you snuffed out the eternal lamp
The one I kept protected Through the rain and the long years
While you were miles away Drying somebody else's tears
And I finally see the picture Clear as the sea glass I hold
I kept the faith But you sold the story for silver and for gold
The promise has faded now Just a blur against the night
I'm packing up the ghost of you Stepping back into the light
I came here for a future But all I found was the past
And the chill and lonely knowledge That some ends are meant to last
You moved on without a word And I'm still standing here
The fading promise