With a trembling pen in hand
I try the best I can
To write all the reasons I can't stay
And I hope she'll understand
I can't leave her like a man
'Cause a man would never leave her this way

A note of things I should've said
Lays beside her sleeping head
As I turn and make my way off in the night
By the time the morning's breaking
My heart will still be aching
Every time I think of what I've left behind

'Cause I don't wanna see me leaving in her eyes
And I can't stand to watch her watch me make her cry
And I don't know a right way I can do her wrong
So I don't wanna be here in the morning
When she wakes up and finds me gone

It hurts to know how much she'll hurt
I've told myself things could be worse
And I've convinced myself she's better off this way
By the time she finds I'm gone
I'll be a long, long way from home
When she reads a note of things I couldn't say

'Cause I don't wanna see me leaving in her eyes
And I can't stand to watch her watch me make her cry
And I don't know a right way I can do her wrong
So I don't wanna be here in the morning
When she wakes up and finds me gone

Lord, I don't wanna be here in the morning
When she wakes up and finds me gone