[Verse 1]
My daughter has a best friend
Who's about to move away
And it kills me as a mother
To see her feel this kind of pain
This is her first great loss
But it won't be her last
I cannot make it stop
And so I say
[Chorus]
I know you wish there was a way
To slow the hands of time
But when you truly love someone
You never say goodbye
'Cause they're woven in the fabric
Of the person you've become
It is impossible
Impossible to lose
The ones you love
[Verse 2]
My grandpa's name is Henry
And Audrey was his wife
After 50 years together
She was still the love of his whole life
Before her final breath
She reached and took his hand
He bowed to kiss her head
And heard her say
[Chorus]
I know you wish there was a way
To slow the hands of time
But when you truly love someone
You never say goodbye
'Cause they're woven in the fabric
Of the person you've become
It is impossible
Impossible to lose
The ones you love
[Bridge]
I know the winds of change will blow again
I feel it in my heart, I know it in my head
And though I can't avoid the road that lies ahead
I choose these words instead
[Chorus]
Even though there's not a way
To slow the hands of time
When you truly love someone
You never say goodbye
'Cause they're woven in the fabric
Of the person you've become
It is impossible
Impossible to lose
It is impossible
Impossible to lose
The ones you love
The ones you love
Impossible
Song Meaning
JJ Heller builds "Impossible" from two separate stories of loss rather than one — "my daughter has a best friend who's about to move away, and it kills me as a mother to see her feel this kind of pain" — starting with something small enough that a child can understand it before the song widens its scope.
"My grandpa's name is Henry, and Audrey was his wife, after 50 years together she was still the love of his whole life" moves from a child's first loss to the end of a decades-long marriage, and "before her final breath she reached and took his hand" keeps the scene concrete rather than sentimental. Both stories end on the same repeated line, "and so I say" or "and heard her say," before the identical chorus follows.
"When you truly love someone you never say goodbye, 'cause they're woven in the fabric of the person you've become" makes its central claim about permanence through metaphor rather than promise, insisting love changes the lover's actual makeup rather than simply lingering in memory. "I know the winds of change will blow again... I choose these words instead" admits future loss is certain even as the bridge commits to the same conclusion anyway, and the final chorus repeats "impossible to lose" twice in a row, as if saying it once wasn't enough to make it stick.