A single life can make all the difference
They didn't just die that day, but there remain each day hence
Too many closed caskets leave open seats at the table
and bicycle lessons from mom cause dad isn't able

True loss is in the blank canvases, empty pages with pencils sharp
And in the overgrown gardens and the silent harp
Potential never realized in the inventions never made
In the empty desk on the first day of sixth grade

Like a fish that doesn't know water exists
We add names like groceries to the list
Three letters mark every bullet in the clip
The "END" in someone's friendship

Count the cost of a conversation with a stone in the ground
In place of a daughter in a wedding gown?
For power, greed, hate, or just by mistake
We will never know the cost of the lives we take