Oh, you should've stayed when the fire ran wild,
Should've danced just a little, lost your pride for a while,
Now you watch from the dark where the good things fade -
Lover, you should've stayed.

You stood at the edge with your hands in your coat,
All your pretty little doubts stuck tight in your throat,
I was spinning in sparks, I was calling your name -
But you flinched at the heat and you stepped from the flame.

Oh, I saw how you lingered, how your breath nearly broke,
How you swallowed the yes that you dressed up as "no,"
Now the night's got your echo, but it don't sing the same -
You were close enough to taste it, now you're choking on the blame.

Oh, you should've stayed when the fire ran wild,
Should've danced just a little, lost your pride for a while,
Now you watch from the dark where the good things fade -
Darling, you should've stayed.

I had wine on my lips and a dare in my grin.
Had a world in my palm I was ready to spin,
You were counting the cost, you were checking the door -
While I was already halfway to wanting you more.

Oh, you love like a gambler who won't place a bet,
Keeps his hands clean and empty and calls that "no regret,"
But the cards that you folded? I still play them for gold -
And I laugh when I think how you frightened of bold.

Oh, you should've stayed when the fire ran wild,
Should've danced just a little, lost your pride for a while,
Now you watch from the dark where the good things fade -
Stranger, you should've stayed.

Now I'm gone like a song that you just couldn't learn,
Like a match in the wind you were too slow to burn,
And there's others who follow where you feared to begin -
They don't ask for permission, they just step on in.

So tell all your stories 'bout the girl dressed in flame,
How she laughed like a sin and she never was tame,
But the truth sits between every word that you say -
You didn't lose me, love... you just walked away.

Penned by my hand on the 23rd of Phaestian, in the year 1001 AF.