Track 1 of the album What the Empty Rooms Remember · 2023
What the Empty Rooms Remember
“The paler squares where the pictures hung are the whole song. I opened with it because it is how every one of these stories begins.”
neoclassical · neoclassical · chamber ballad · 3:39
Lyrics
The curtains are down and the carpet is bare There are paler squares where the pictures hung A faint scent of toast still drifts down the stair And the clock in the hall has quit its tongue I walk through the rooms with my hand on the wall Each one gives a little, each one lets me stay The house is a book and I'm reading it all One last time before I'm away What the empty rooms remember Is the way we filled the air Laughter in the dead of winter Footsteps on the creaking stair Every echo is a promise That the walls will hold us still What the empty rooms remember Is that love was here, and will The kitchen has kept every Sunday we shared The window seat holds a small hollowed dent My mother's low singing still hangs in the air Where the long afternoons were so gently spent I stand by the door with the key in my hand It's lighter than I thought a key could be A house is just walls till a family lands And then it's a whole history What the empty rooms remember Is the way we filled the air Laughter in the dead of winter Footsteps on the creaking stair Every echo is a promise That the walls will hold us still What the empty rooms remember Is that love was here, and will So go on, old house, keep our names Keep the lamplight, keep the rain I'll carry you wherever I go In the quiet only I know What the empty rooms remember Is the way we filled the air Laughter in the dead of winter Footsteps on the creaking stair Every echo is a promise That the walls will hold us still What the empty rooms remember Is that love was here, and will Love was here, and will