parking lots and midnight walks won’t feel the same at twenty-three

I’ll never free my thoughts again, I will miss you now and then

there I go, waste my breath, there must be a point to all of this

I’ll pay close attention, I want to remember

I am writing tribute to a youth I never had

I might be exaggerating, but it's better than forgetting

you won’t do the same, there’s much bigger plans you made

so what harm would it do to spend my life longing for you

or my image of you, just a spectre of a girl

was this ever real? justify the way I feel

just like film negatives when I hold these years up to the light

I might see a picture, dark surrounding points of white

the flowers on the furniture all still have their petals in full bloom

this is where I held you and we fell asleep together

I am writing tribute to a love we never had

certainly exaggerating but it’s better than forgetting

you won’t reminisce, there’s better memories than this

so what harm would it ever do to spend the rest of my life longing for you

or my idea of you, just a spectre of a girl

was this ever real? justify the way I feel

I am writing tribute to the misery I’ll feel

in five or seven years, nowhere near as romantic as it appears

you will leave this place and so will be gone every trace

of what we ever had, whether it was good or bad

my idea of us, two lovers never meant to be

did I remember wrong? or have I been longing too long?