Secondary Sorrow

I didn’t know her, didn’t know you as two Never saw the shape of what she was to you Didn’t hear her voice, didn’t learn her name Now I’m standing here inside your pain I didn’t know her as a mother or a friend Didn’t watch the way your worlds would blend No memories there, no past to borrow Just this quiet, secondary sorrow It’s a strange kind of echo now From a place I won't know My secondary sorrow Is what I got A secondary echo Ringing through someone close It hits me hard It hits me hard It hits me hard Wasn't mine to hear Still it reaches me I hear it in the silence Still surrounding me I watch you break in ways I can’t repair Feel it in the silence hanging in the air Every word I reach for feels so small So I don’t say much at all I hear pieces I don’t understand Trying just to be here where you stand No right way through, no way to follow Just this quiet, secondary sorrow A secondary echo still unfolding Our secondary sorrow Stays with us A secondary echo Ringing through someone close It hits us hard It hits us hard Wasn't ours to hear Still it reaches us We hear it in the silence Still surrounding us We didn’t know her But we know you And that’s what Makes it cut through