The Bridge That You Built

(Verse 1)

Sarah sat in the glow of her cell phone's screen

Her mother’s name kept flashing making her want to scream

Deadlines were pushing, her coffee was cold

So she let the phone ring 'til the silence took hold

"She just wants to gossip, she’s got nothing to say"

Sarah sighed as she pushed the guilt away

And her own little daughter, just seven years old

Stood in the doorway watching the story unfold

(Verse 2)

Fast forward a decade, the seasons have turned

And Sarah has felt how a cold heart can burn

She stood by a casket in the soft morning rain

And dialed a number just to quiet the pain

She just wanted to hear how her mother would breathe

But "The mailbox is full" was all she’d receive

Straight to voicemail, a ghost in the air

She’d finally called, but nobody was there.

(Chorus)

There are two heavy truths that the world likes to keep

One is the graveyard where the memories sleep

The other is the mirror of the child you raised

Who saw how you acted and copied your ways

It’s the ringing that stops when the lessons are learned

And the bridge that you built is the one that you burned.

(Verse 3)

Now Sarah is older, sitting alone

Waiting for an answer on her own mobile phone

She’s calling her daughter, who’s grown up and moved away

To tell her she loves her is all she wants to say

But the girl on the other end looks at the light

And slides it to silent, then walks out in the night

She learned from the best how to ignore the pleas

She was taught love is a choice that is secondary.

(Chorus)

There are two heavy truths that the world likes to keep

One is the graveyard where the memories sleep

The other is the mirror of the child you raised

Who saw how you acted and copied your ways

It’s the ringing that stops when the lessons are learned

And the bridge that you built is the one that you burned.

(Bridge)

She saw Sarah do it, year after year

Treating her mother like a bug in her ear

Now cycles are circular, heavy, and vast

The present is only a ghost of the past.

(Outro)

Two voicemails.

One for the dead.

One for the daughter who heard what was said

When nothing was said at all.

Yeah, nothing was said at all.

(Chorus)

There are two heavy truths that the world likes to keep

One is the graveyard where the memories sleep

The other is the mirror of the child you raised

Who saw how you acted and copied your ways

It’s the ringing that stops when the lessons are learned

And the bridge that you built is the one that you burned.

Yes, the bridge that you built is the one that you burned.