Falling Backwards

**Description below the Lyrics

[Verse 1]
I see so much, yet not enough,
Scraps of light and ragged thoughts.
Trying to remember the list I forgot.
Could have got her flowers… but I did not.

I see a wet and rainy street
I should have walked one day
I could have held her hand in mine
But I turned… and walked the other way.

[Chorus]
Why do we wait to do the things
That weigh so heavy when they’re gone?
We hold them back, we stop them short,
Till the chance to love has come and gone

[Verse 2]
The warmth of her sitting across the kitchen table,
Her fingers curled ‘round that chipped coffee cup.
I thought I would be able
To give her more but that time's up.

I wanted to plant her garden this spring
But it’s still just packets on a shelf
I imagined a song I’d sing to her…
It's still a thought inside myself.

[Chorus]
Why do we wait to do the things
That weigh so heavy when they’re gone?
We hold them back, we stop them short,
Till the chance to love has come and gone.

[Verse 3]
The trip I planned a hundred times,
And always found ways to miss.
The arms I kept beside my back,
Afraid to reach and give her a kiss..

The brakes I swore I’d get replaced,
The list I left there on the chair.
A sunset I was “too tired” to see,
The time I didn’t want to share.

[Chorus]
Why do we wait to do the things
That weigh so heavy when they’re gone?
We hold them back, we stop them short,
Till the chance to love has come and gone.

[Bridge]
What happened to this life?
Did I throw it all away?
Did I waste all the time we had,
Hoping I’d have another day?

[Final Chorus]
Why did I wait to do the things
That I can’t stop thinking when she's gone?
I held them back, I failed to do,
Now my time to love has come and gone
Why, oh, why did I wait… so long…?

[Outro - gently , almost whispered]
And then... I passed... away

Even though it's late, really late,
what I think I've learned is this:

It’s not the arms I didn’t open.
The time I didn't live.
The garden that never blossomed.
The kiss I'd give anything to give.

It’s the love I hardly lived.
That’s the ache that echoes long.
And that’s the reason I cry
When love... came along.
I realize I hardly... ever... tried.

Description:
Why Did I Wait is realization—too late in coming. A man’s final reckoning unfolds in whispers, gravel, and silence. His voice frays at the edges, pushing through phrases he can barely finish. He doesn't sing to impress; he sings because he has to—because the weight of what he didn’t say is heavier than the words he finally does.

The guitar is faint, almost hesitant, leaving space for the rawness to echo. When he reaches the bridge, his voice strains upward—then crashes back down. The music fades. Then, quietly: “And then I passed away.”

A pause.
A breath.
Then the truth: what he learned… and what he’ll never forgive himself for.

The final lines ache with clarity. This isn’t performance.
It’s too human for that.

It’s realization—too late in coming.

Why Did I Wait

Writer, Songwriter, Artist, Craftswoman, Wife, Mother, Grandmother

Why Did I Wait

Madelyn Dionne

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