Verse 1
I thought compassion would be golden
A holy feeling from above
Some wiser voice with perfect language
Calling everything by love
But it came in a smaller way
On an evening worn and grey
When the ache rose in my chest
And for once I did not turn away
Chorus
It was the hand that stayed
When I would have pulled away
The door left open
At the end of a bitter day
The hurt was still the hurt
The tears were still the same
But something in me stopped
Making an enemy of pain
Verse 2
Rain was tapping at the window
The room was losing all its light
And every old familiar reflex
Came to tell me how to fight
Trace it back and make it useful
Name the wound and make it clean
But all I had was breath and trembling
And a sorrow in between
Chorus
And it was the hand that stayed
When I would have pulled away
The chair beside me
At the end of a broken day
Nothing had been solved
Nothing had been explained
But something in me stopped
Making an exile out of pain
Bridge
Not admiration
Not some shining self-regard
Just no more standing over myself
With a clenched and watchful heart
Just this bruised and wordless creature
Finally let in from the rain
And a warmth so quiet
I could hardly call its name
Final Chorus
It was the hand that stayed
When I would have pulled away
A room turned shelter
At the end of a weary day
And though the ache remained
It no longer felt the same
Cause something in me stopped
Making an enemy of pain
Outro
So now if sorrow finds me
And empties out the sky
Maybe I don’t need to fix it
Maybe I just stay nearby
Like a lamp left burning low
Like a voice that does not strain
Like a hand upon the heart
That does not leave again
