Run When I Beg You to Stay

When I was ten I begged the calendar to run

Couldn't wait to be the man, to get the growing done

Counted every birthday like a sentence almost done

Didn't know that growing up means watching time just run

Now I've got the keys, the bills, the quiet Sunday dread

And I'm standing in the kitchen with the things I left unsaid

Funny how the years I rushed feel thinner than I thought

Time just laughed and gave me everything I ever sought

You never ask, you never warn

You just move

And I've been racing something

That was never gonna lose

Hey time, why do you run when I need you to stay?

You drag every hour when I'm counting the days

I reach out my hands and you just slip away

Come on now — that ain't fair, that ain't fair

Hey time, you groove when I'm begging you stop

You freeze when I'm burning through my one good shot

You've been running this game since the day I was born

Come on now — that ain't right, that ain't right

There was a girl in a yellow dress one July night

We were laughing on a rooftop and the city looked so right

I pressed my hands together like a prayer with no one there

Just let this last forever — but forever never cares

My grandfather sits quiet by the window every day

Watches light move slowly, got no reason left to race

He used to rush like all of us — I see it in his hands

Now he knows the secret that I'm just beginning to understand

You never ask, you never warn

You just move

Maybe that's the only honest thing

You've ever tried to do

Hey time, why do you run when I need you to stay?

You drag every hour when I'm counting the days

I reach out my hands and you just slip away

Come on now — that ain't fair, that ain't fair

Hey time, you groove when I'm begging you stop

You freeze when I'm burning through my one good shot

You've been running this game since the day I was born

Come on now — that ain't right, that ain't right

Maybe I've been wrong about you all along

Maybe you were never mine to hold

Every moment that I tried to keep too strong

Was just a story I was never told

So go ahead and run — I'll learn to run with you

Go ahead and stop — I'll find a way to stop there too

'Cause every age I've been was right on time

And every clock I've cursed was always mine

Hey time, I'm done begging you to stay

I'll take every hour, every slow and rushing day

I'll hold out my hands even knowing you'll slip through

Come on now — that's all right, that's all right

Hey time, you can groove while I find my stop

I'll be here still breathing at the very top

You've been teaching me something since the day I was born

Come on now — that feels right, that feels right

Some days you run

Some days you crawl

But every good thing

Was worth it all