Cafe Windows

This piece was heavily inspired by “Cleopatra” by The Lumineers, particularly its storytelling style and emotional themes of timing, regret, and missed love. Some lyrical ideas and structural elements were influenced by that song. This work was created as a personal, non-commercial piece for artistic expression only.

Photo by Roberto Nickson on Unsplash

[Intro - Verse 1]

I was young and uncertain

Fresh out of college town

Pockets full of big plans

But nothing to settle down

Then you walked in laughing

Yellow hair in the light

Saying you were proud of me

On some ordinary night

(Verse 2)

I could’ve lived inside your eyes

I was scared tears inside your eyes

While you were chasing changes I was busy chasing you

And turning into someone you might choose

But I was young and too afraid

And I could’ve told you everything

If courage ever came

But young men leave for futures

Before they know what love became

[Chorus]

I was late

Late for the love of my life

Now 10 years on, I see you through café windows

Holding somebody else tonight

And I’m glad that you are smiling

Lord knows you deserve that life

But part of me still wonders

If it could’ve been mine

[Verse 3]

When I left, the ribbon you gave me

Was the only thing I had That one photo of us laughing

Kept the world from turning bad

It gave me strength to keep on climbing

Until I reached the very top

But once I got the view I wanted

I didn't know how to make it stop

I should’ve told you back then

I would’ve married you that day

But I was young

And fear got in the way

[Chorus]

I was late

Late for the love of my life

Now I see you through café windows

Holding somebody else tonight

And I’m glad that you are smiling

Lord knows you deserve that life

But part of me still wonder

[Verse 4]

Now strangers know my name

And money fills my hands

But none of it gets quiet

The way your presence can

Because every crowded morning

And every sleepless night

Still carries little echoes

Of your voice beneath the light

[Chorus]

I was late

Late for the love of my life

Now I see you through café windows

Holding somebody else tonight

[Outro]

I’ll keep the ribbon in my pocket

I’ll keep the ghost of you in mind

I’ll play the part of the man

Who left the best of him behind

And I was late for the "yes,"

late for the "stay"

Late for the love of my life

But when the bed calls me home,

when the bed calls me home

When I die, I’ll be on time