Before It Is Too Late

​Jean-Paul VERNERET

6/2/2026

 

​Verse 1

Now that you have grown so old

And your children don’t come by the door

And they don’t call you anymore

Nothing’s left inside your heart

But the silence and the cold

And a bitter sting, a world apart

 

​Verse 2

Memories are all you keep

Yet you gave them every breath

Your life, your health, until your death

Without counting what you spent

By the window, shadows creep

Waiting for a sign never sent

 

​Bridge

When the day comes that you die

They will show up with their flowers

With their tears and lonely hours

Filled with soul-deep late regrets

But the time has passed them by

To say the love one soon forgets

 

​Chorus

The price of absence is a heavy cost

Their whole lives they’ll feel the weight

Of a guilt that’s never lost

That no time can expiate

 

In your house, all that will stay

Is the frost of a winter's day

And the clock that’s ticking slow

Counting hours as you go

They will weep for what has been

Without a kiss for what they've seen

 

​Verse 3

With your hands you built a wall

A shelter from their every storm

You kept them safe, you kept them warm

Forgetting yourself day by day

But blood is not a road at all

Where love is found along the way

 

​Verse 4

In that chair you’ll fade away

Without a sound at the front door

Whatever they bring matters no more

When the heart has gone ahead

They will mourn for you that day

In a house where all is dead

 

When the day comes that you die

They will show up with their flowers

With their tears and lonely hours

Filled with soul-deep late regrets

But the time has passed them by

To say the love one soon forgets

 

​Chorus

The price of absence is a heavy cost

Their whole lives they’ll feel the weight

Of a guilt that’s never lost

That no time can expiate

 

​Refrain Extension

In your house, all that will stay

Is the void that’s here to stay

Faded photos in a frame

That they won't visit just the same

You can’t catch up with time that’s gone

When you ignored the living one

 

​Verse 5

Finally you’ll fall asleep

In that chair worn out by age

Turning now the final page

Of a book they never read

No kiss for you to keep

On the lonely road ahead

 

Bridge

When the day comes that you die

They will show up with their flowers

With their tears and lonely hours

Filled with soul-deep late regrets

But the time has passed them by

To say the love one soon forgets

 

​Chorus

The price of absence is a heavy cost

Their whole lives they’ll feel the weight

Of a guilt that’s never lost

That no time can expiate

 

​Outro

Just a call...

Just an "I love you"

Before the silence makes it through

To rule the house forevermore

But in one last heart-beat’s light

You still hope for a step tonight

A face to walk right through the door

Before the shadow claims the floor.