[Verse 1] You held your breath before you laughed again I caught it - I remembered that The same small thing I stopped noticing Had its way of bringing everything back
We’ve been careful since the truce Testing if the temperature was right But you said my name like you used to And the quiet felt different tonight
[Pre-Chorus] I forgot what this felt like Before the distance and the cost I forgot the burning kind of love Was ours - I thought we’d lost
[Chorus] Close encounter with the burning kind Finding all the reaching that we lost Close encounter, back across The space between us that we crossed What you always were to me Was never just an empty memory Close encounter with the burning kind And I’m not running from this
[Verse 2] The radio stopped filling all the quiet We’re saying things now where silence used to hold It’s not starting over - it’s returning To the version of us before we got too cold
Remember how we stayed up finding things to say? We found them - they were there the whole time We were watching each other from across the table Now I’m reaching out to you across the divide
[Pre-Chorus] I remember what this felt like Before the distance and the cost I forgot the burning kind of love Was ours - I thought we’d lost
[Chorus] Close encounter with the burning kind Finding all the reaching that we lost Close encounter, back across The space between us that we crossed What you always were to me Was never just an empty memory Close encounter with the burning kind And I’m not running from this
[Bridge] Same book unread, same side of the bed You said maybe that’s not nothing Maybe that’s where we begin again And the burning kind was always there Just waiting to be chosen Not from nothing Just from where we left off
The space between was never meant to stay We’re reaching through the ordinary Reaching through the quiet Choosing us again today
[Final Chorus - key lift][Final Chorus] Close encounter with the burning kind Closing out the space in between Close encounter - this time different This time we both know what it means Choosing us again today Reaching through the ordinary Close encounter with the burning kind And I’m staying in this
And we begin again…