I tried to save a girl I truly loved
And didn't quite know how to help her
So now she's sleeping as her parents up above
Cry over things that they can't tell her

And when I did my good deed
I thought I'd feel unbroken gladness
But standing in the street alone
I just felt sinking sadness

Girl, your dad will not us bless
So hang up your veil and dress
Look at me and take one guess
Where this best-intentioned love will lead us

I once felt a feeling fully through
Though I knew I shouldn't feel it
Because to act on it I'd be a person
Who should be slapped into a straitjacket

So every time it comes around
I just let it die inside me
You said, "I only come around
Because I just need you to hide me"

So we knelt in those dead weeds
Sticks and sharp rocks cutting into our knees
And I thought that we would freeze
But there was just too much warm blood in our bodies

I'm not going to make you take the pills
Though you should really think about it
The fire by which we both were almost killed
Glowed so beautiful—don't doubt it

But we have to make a choice now
Can we glow without it?
There's a space I tried to fill
But I'm seeing now I never will
You fly around while I stand still
Until I slowly just get smaller and smaller

I tried to save a girl I truly loved
And I never would desert her
But we both found out that I was dreaming
Of the day I thoroughly could hurt her

And I saw myself inside her eyes
This shrinking would-be savior
Resented her for never needing him
And couldn't wait just to betray her

So we drove back to her place
From the temporary home that we had made
And I stepped back into the street
Feeling the fullest moment of my life
Slowly shrink away from me