"How Did It End?" Lyrics

"How Did It End?" Lyrics (The Tortured Poet’s Department: The Anthology)

Written by Taylor Swift and Aaron Dessner

We hereby conduct this post mortem
He was a hothouse flower to my outdoorsman
Our maladies were such we could not cure them
And so a touch that was my birthright became foreign

Come one, come all
It's happening again
The empathetic hunger descends
We'll tell no one except all of our friends
We must know
How did it end?

We were blind to unforeseen circumstances
We learned the right steps to different dances
And fell victim to interlopers' glances
Lost the game of chance, what are the chances?
Soon they'll go home to their husbands
Smug 'cause they know they can trust him
Then feverishly calling their cousins

Guess who we ran into at the shops
Walking in circles like she was lost
Didn't you hear they called it all off
One gasp, and then
How did it end?

Say it once again with feeling
How the death rattle breathing
Silenced as the soul was leaving
The deflation of our dreaming
Leaving me bereft and reeling
My beloved ghost and me
Sitting in a tree
D-Y-I-N-G

It's happening again
How did it end?
I can't pretend like I understand
How did it end?

Come one, come all
It's happening again
The empathetic hunger descends
We'll tell no one except all of our friends
But I still don't know
How did it end?