Outside Looking In

(Mary Chapin Carpenter)

Everywhere I see the signs, pointing one direction
No more twists or crooked turns, leaving room for doubt
Where I used to take the time for quiet and reflection
Now I only hear the noise of what I am without

I see them walking hand in hand, and my eyes just want to linger
On those golden wedding bands, wrapped around their fingers
By the time I turn away, I feel it once again
I'm back in this familiar place, outside looking in

Baby, all the tears between us couldn't fill the spaces
And all the word we grasped at, they just fell away
I kept waiting on forgiveness to fix the broken places
But nothing even like it ever came my way

And tonight I drove around, and the street came up before me
I took a turn and then I found this old house coming toward me
I heard the sound a heart must make when a memory's caving in
Oh baby, what a hungry place, outside looking in

It's the hardest kind of need that never knows a reason
Are we such a lonely breed, or just born in a lonely season
Baby, it's all in the eyes, it's where the reckoning begins
It's where we linger like a sigh, it's where we long to be pulled in

It's where we learn to say goodbye without saying anything
Standing on the borderline, outside looking in