Quase

[Intro - solo nylon guitar, soft brushes, 8 bars]

Verse 1
Somewhere a café is closing its shutters,
the light going honey on the tile.
You laughed at the rain and I laughed with you,
and I thought we had all the while.

Verse 2
A guitar down the street plays our tune slowly,
the one we never learned to name.
I kept it in my pocket like a summer coin,
and I spent it all the same.

Chorus
Quase, my love, you were almost mine,
a wave that turned back at the line.
Saudade hums where your hand used to be,
and the breeze keeps asking for me.
Quase, my love, we were almost true,
now the sea keeps the 'I love you.'

[Instrumental - nylon guitar solo, walking bass, 16 bars]

Verse 3
So I walk by the water where the evening slows,
and I don't ask where the good ones go.
Some love is a song you're not meant to keep,
just a melody in the tide's soft sweep.

Bridge - softer, sparse guitar
Maybe in another life, another town,
we're dancing where the sun goes down.
No goodbyes, no words unsaid,
just your head against my shoulder instead.

[Instrumental - warm flute or muted trumpet answers the guitar, 16 bars]

[Final Chorus - fuller, gentle harmony vocals]
Quase, my love, you were almost mine,
a wave that turned back at the line.
Saudade hums where your hand used to be,
and the breeze keeps asking for me.
Quase, my love, we were almost true,
now the sea keeps the 'I love you.'

[Outro - fingerpicked guitar, whispered vocal, slow fade]
Quase... quase...
almost, almost, and so it goes.

End