One day I found myself grieving for someone I had never met. An empty tent at a nearby campsite kept pulling my attention until I realized it wasn’t really about the stranger at all. This song is about discovering that even when exhausted and withdrawn, the part of us that cares is still alive.

Lyrics

Verse 1

There was a tent without a car
Not very far from mine
First time I saw it, it was nothing
Just a shape against the pines

Second time, I felt it
Third time, something rose
A grief I couldn't explain
For someone I didn't know

Chorus

Where did you go
Empty tent, quiet road
I thought I was done reaching
But my body still knows

Where did you go
Are you safe, are you cold
I thought I was alone here
Till I cared where you had gone

Verse 2

Funny how the human heart
Will argue with the mind
I kept saying no one had me
Then I looked and tried to find

A stranger in a campsite
A shadow through the trees
Maybe I was asking for them
Maybe I was asking me

Chorus

Where did you go
Empty tent, quiet road
I thought I was done reaching
But my body still knows

Where did you go
Are you safe, are you cold
I thought I was alone here
Till I cared where you had gone

Bridge

This is how I learned it
I wasn't dead to care
Just tired of the breaking
That happens when someone's there

Final Chorus

Where did you go
Little shelter with no name
You were just a tent there
But I was not the same

Where did you go
I hope you found your way
I thought distance made me safer
Till I missed a stranger's face