come back to me

I was driving home listening to the radio (I rarely listen to radio), and David Cook's Come Back To Me came on. I actually have never paid attention to the song before. But for whatever reason, I heard the lyrics this time. And it goes like this:

You say you gotta go and find yourself
You say that you're becoming someone else
Don't recognize the face in the mirror looking back at you

You say you're leaving as you look away
I know there's really nothing left to say
Just know I'm here whenever you need me I'll wait for you

So I'll let you go, I'll set you free
And when you've seen what you need to see
When you find you, come back to me

Take your time, I won't go anywhere
Picture you with the wind in your hair
I'll keep your things right where you left them
I'll be here for you

Oh and I'll let you go, I'll set your free
And when you've seen what you need to see
When you find you, come back to me

And I hope you find everything that you need
I'll be right here waiting to see
You find you, come back to me

I can't get close if you're not there
I can't get inside if there's no soul there
I can't face you, I can't save you
It's something you'll have to do

So I'll let you go, I'll set you free
And when you've seen what you need to see
When you find you, come back to me
Come back to me

So I'll let you go, I'll set you free
And when you've seen what you need to see
When you find you, come back to me

And I hope you find everything that you need
I'll be right here waiting to see
You find you, come back to me

You find you, come back to me
When you find you, come back to me
When you find you, come back to me

Therein lies the problem. They don't come back. After they go leave and find themselves, they don't return. You can wait forever. You can keep a light on. You can carry an eternal flame. And enough torches to burn a forest. And still they won't come back. They go their selfish ways. Everyday that passes, they are just that much farther away. Meanwhile, you sit here, frozen, not able to lift yourself out of the quicksand of self-pity. Sometimes they even appear in your dream, and you wake up feeling even crappier than the day before. The idea that they are also sitting out there somewhere underneath the same bright stars, thinking of you and feeling remorseful and regretful and nostalgic for what you once had together, is ludicrous, pure sci-fi, or at least pure pop song fiction. Yeah, they go and find themselves at the cost of destroying you and your faith in love and humankind. And they don't look back, much less come back. Ever.

Not that this has happened to me or anything...