The story behind this song
Forty years of nights, and still her hand goes looking in the dark and finds him there — no fumbling, across the quilt his mother made, worn soft as prayer. He squeezes back once, half in a dream. They finish each other's sentences in the kitchen, trade them like an old duet, and don't say much at breakfast anymore because they've known since '85.
Two winters back there were wires and machines and that awful chair, and a whisper at sunrise: still there? For the wife whose whole vow comes down to two words — still here — and a hand that always finds its way back.
Lyrics
And my hand already knows the way
In the dark my hand goes looking, finds you there
No fumbling, love — it knows the route
Across the quilt your mother made, worn soft as prayer
You squeeze back once, half in a dream
Like you're answering a question I didn't ask out loud
They wear them in
In the dark, without a look
After every year we've written in this book
When the night is long, when the news is bad
When I forget the words to what I had —
My hand remembers. It always finds your shore.
Forty years, my love, and you're still the one I reach for
I start yours in the car — we trade them like an old duet
The coffee smell that says you're up before me
The hum of you shaving while the windows sweat
We don't say much at breakfast anymore
We already know. We've known since '85.
We just outgrew the need
In the dark, without a look
After every year we've written in this book
When the night is long, when the news is bad
When I forget the words to what I had —
My hand remembers. It always finds your shore.
Forty years, my love, and you're still the one I reach for
Wires and machines and that awful chair
I held your hand till the sun came up
And you woke and whispered, "Still there?"
Still here. Still here. That's the whole vow, isn't it —
Still here.
In the dark, without a look
Forty years, and that's the proof it took
Not the rings, not the parties, not the cake —
Just a hand that finds a hand, awake or half-awake
My side, your side, and the bridge our fingers make
You're still the one I reach for
And I will be reaching, love, for all the years that wait
Squeeze back twice
So I know you heard the song
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