HEARTBREAKING Michael Bennett s Soul Stirring After I m Gone Performance

You don't call me anymore. You just say you're busy. I see you laughing with the world, but you don't make time for me. You walk past everything I gave like it was nothing at all. I gave you my whole life. You can't give me one call. I'm still your father. Why do I feel erased? Yeah, I had flaws. Yeah, I got loud. But I never once walked out. I was here. I was breathing. You just stopped believing. When I was sick, you didn't know. When I was weak, you never asked if I was okay. You never missed me enough to stay. I waited for you. You never came. You'll say you love me. Maybe you did. But love isn't words. It's what you give. Jesus forgives. I hope he does. Because one day he'll answer for us. And he'll ask you, simple and plain, why you never came. After I'm gone, don't tell the crowd you were proud. Don't post my picture. Don't say my name. If you couldn't show up while I felt the pain. I was here. I was alive. You just thought I had more time. After I'm gone, you'll finally see. You didn't lose me. You abandoned me. I stayed just for you. I worked until they shook. I missed my own dreams so you could chase the ones you took. I stood outside in the cold so you could sleep in warm light. I swallowed every fear just to keep you alright. Now I sit alone in a house I built for us. You pass my name in silence like I'm someone you don't trust. You left me here waiting. You don't even try. Yeah, I made mistakes. I wasn't easy to love. But I never stopped showing up. I never gave up. When the wood hits dirt. When the sound of goodbye finally starts to hurt. You'll wish you came. You'll wish you stayed. You'll replay every call you never made. You say you love me. You swear you care. But love shows up and you weren't. I was here. You just thought I had more time. You never found me. When I needed you, you weren't around me. I watched your life move on so fast while I was stuck inside the past. I kept the porch light on at night. I told myself you'd make it right. But hope gets tired and so do I. You left me behind and called it a lie. You didn't mean to hurt me. That's what you'd say. But not meaning to. It still hurts this way. After I'm gone, standing by my grave. You'll cry for the time you never gave. You'll touch that stone. You'll say my name. But it won't answer. It won't be the same. You'll beg for one more chance to call. But silence won't answer at all. Jesus forgives attitude. But even he knows love has to move. One day you'll stand before him alone. And he'll ask you why you never came home. When the dirt falls down. When they lower me slow into the ground. That's when you'll feel what you doubt is still here. I needed you. Not just something true. After I'm gone, regret will stay longer than I ever did. Waiting for you that way. I was seventeen slamming doors. Shouting things I can't ignore. Said I don't need you anymore. Then I walked right out that door. Mama crying in the light. Tears falling through the night. Daddy standing cold and still. Never said what he might feel. I thought silence meant you didn't care. Didn't know your love was there. I watched headlights fade away. Prayed you'd make it through the day. Held my heart but couldn't chase. Saw the hurt upon your face. Left a light on every night. Hoping you would find what's right. Love don't leave when you walk out. It just learns to live with doubt. I stood quiet at the door. Felt a weight I can't ignore. A man won't beg his son to stay. But I prayed you'd find your way. So I let you face the world. A pain I never showed. Left that front door open wide. Hoping you'd come back inside. I thought I had to prove I was stronger. You were just afraid to fall. I was trying to make you right. We were hurting in one home. But we never let it show. I was running from your love. You were holding me below. Through the silence. Through the pride. Through the tears we kept inside. I walked out. I walked away. But you never left my side. You never left. You never left my side. Years went rolling like the wind. Different roads I tried to win. Every night I felt so strong. Every morning felt so long. Now I see you in my face. In the lines I can't erase. Everything I tried to lose was the thing that pulled me through. I still set your place at night. Even when you're out of sight. Some kind of love don't fade away. It just waits another day. I knew life would bring you back. Through the pain and through the cracks. Not through words I couldn't say. But through roads that make you stay. If I could go back. I wouldn't walk out. I wouldn't fight. You don't have to go back. You made it home. But I never said it. I love you mom. I love you. Dad. We were healing. In the spaces in between. Every word we never said. Still became everything. Through the distance. Through the years. Through the unspoken fears. I was never truly lost. You were with me all those years. Now I feel you in my soul. In every step. I finally know. I'm your son. I'm your son. And I never walked alone. Always there. Always. I know. I know. There's a quiet in the hallway late at night. Where your laughter used to stay. Little shoes beside the door. Like you just ran out to play. I remember every question that you asked. Every dream inside your eyes. You believed I knew it all. I was just learning life. I tried to be the shelter from the storm. But some winds you face alone. And if the sky feels heavy lead you home. Just remember every step you take. You were never on your own. When the night wraps shadows around your heart. And the silence feels too true. Look for me where the lights still shine. I'll be there with you. You were stronger than you ever let me see. Even when your voice would shake. Every fall that brought you down. Was a step you had to take. I'd hold the world from reaching you. Can't rewrite the hands of time. But I gave you all the love I had. And that love will never die. One day you'll see what I always knew. There's so much of me. And it's empty where you are speaking to me. Inside your soul held you make. When the tears fall softly in the dark. Like a quiet endless rain. Call my name into the star. Answer just the same. And when your hands hold someone just like mine. And you whisper it'll be okay. You feel me in the words you say. And every promise you won't break. Time may carry me beyond your sight. But it won't erase the truth. Every beat inside your chest. Is a part of me in you. I'm not gone. Just beyond. Every place your heart's far too wide. I won't be afraid by your side. And every dream you dare to chase. Every love you choose. I'm the voice you'll always hear. Guiding you through. So when the stars begin to glow at night. And the silence feels brand new. Just close your eyes. And you will find. I'm still right there with you. Oh, with you.