Nothing is Gone

Lyrics

I'm up before the house is, and there's one light on over the sink,
and I've stood at this mirror since before our daughter had a name.
The concealer is for the nights I didn't sleep.
The powder is for the office, because they read my face
before they hear a word out of my mouth.
And there's a color for the drop-off line,
so the other moms can tell that I'm fine and they can count on me,
and it works every time.

And somewhere in there the smile went on the same way,
and the "I'm fine", and the "yes", all of it with the same hand,
and I couldn't tell you when I stopped taking it off at night.
It's still there in the morning before I've even started.

And if it all came off, would you still know me in the morning,
would you reach for me the way you do without looking?
Would the phone ring on Monday? Would they still say my name?
And there'd be no color left to stand in,
and every choice would be mine,
and I'm not sure I'd want that, and I'm not sure I ever did.

Nothing is gone.

It's twenty years of mornings now, and my hand got steady,
and the first shade that I reach for is the one my mother wore,
the quiet, decent color every woman keeps in her purse.
And this morning I lean in, looking for one inch of me
that came in with me, one part that I didn't put there,
and it's beautiful, I won't pretend it isn't.
I just can't find my face in any of it.

And if it all came off, would you still know me in the morning,
would you reach for me the way you do without looking?
Would the phone ring on Monday? Would they still say my name?
And there'd be no color left to stand in,
and every choice would be mine,
and I'm not sure I'd want that, and I'm not sure I ever did.

Nothing is gone.

Nothing is gone.

You love this face. You said so in the car the night you met me,
and our daughter learned the whole routine from watching me,
and the job, and the house,
and the people who call me when it goes wrong,
were all built by a woman who shows up looking exactly like this.
So I keep my hands down, and here is the reason.
Everyone I love stands on this image, and I'm the one holding it up.

Nothing is gone.

Nothing is gone.

Nothing is gone.