Guarantee That I’d Be Loved

He once was a friend of mine
Who needed me all the time
How far would I be willing to go
To pull him back from the edge
To try to put him at ease
Or talk him off the ledge
I had to keep him alive
I did whatever he pleased
So maybe that would guarantee that I'd be loved

She seemed like a safer bet
Akin to a marionette
How far would I be willing to go
Just to escape my own head
Or to try shift the mode
Some fight or flight like response
Had left my body for dead
I tried to feign nonchalance
Oh, maybe that would guarantee that I'd be loved

We both fell in love on stage
Still teens, no longer underage
How far would I be willing to go
To feel the warmth of her bed
To feel a part of her home
When she was trying to bloom
I only felt in the way
Our kind of sweetness was doomed
But had I stayed I would be guaranteed good love

She seemed inapproachable
So proud, so inconsolable
How far would I be willing to go
To bring our creation to life
To live up to our dreams
And cut myself down to size
We came apart at the seams
But I would never dare say
I thought it guaranteed that I could not be saved

I longed for her long before
Our paths crossed an open door
How far would I be willing to go
For us to both reinvent
One day I just couldn't tell
Her heartbeats from my own
And I thought to myself
I've gone and done it again
She was the greatest love that I had ever known

Turns out it wasn't enough
I longed to live in a dream
Of everything I could be
And she still echoed a world
I thought I wanted to flee
And though she always guaranteed that I'd be loved
I let it all go
I turned it all down
There was nothing to discuss
Although I took all her time
Trying to give up on us
Give up the greatest guarantee that I'd be loved

He would have been four by now
Our son, if he was around
How far would I be willing to go
To not be weighed down by love
To never have to say no
I'd pull myself from the edge
To put my baby at ease
I'd talk myself off the ledge
If maybe that could guarantee that I'd be loved