Hallway Light

The receiver cools in my hand

Your last word still hanging there

I count the cracks in the paint {bare felt piano,

room-tone entrance}

Hallway bulb keeps losing its nerve I keep mine where nobody sees

Your name goes dark on the glass And I forget how to

leave The carpet smells like rain and dust The stairwell hums through

the wall I almost call you back again But nothing good would

fall {close vocal, brushed percussion enters} If I move,

the floor might answer If I stay,

the silence knows There is a door inside my chest

Half open, almost closed

(ahhhh) {soft build, synth pad blooms} I am under the failing light

Trying not to break tonight

You are gone, but I am here Holding on to what is

clear Let it flicker,

let it fade I can stand inside the ache

(ooh) {widescreen chorus, fragile breathy lift} The elevator clicks below Someone laughs,

then disappears I press my spine against the door And swallow all

the years I loved you loud inside my head But quiet on

the line Now every second asks me why I made your ending

mine {piano returns close,

percussion thins}

There is no clean way through goodbye No gentle map for letting

go I turn the dead phone in my palm Like it might

learn to glow Then somewhere under all this hurt A smaller truth

appears I can be alone right now And still be standing here

{breakdown, breath-led harmonies} I am under the failing light

Trying not to break tonight

You are gone, but I am here Holding on to what is

clear Let it flicker,

let it fade

I can stand inside the ache If the morning finds me changed

I will answer to my name (ooh) {half-step surge,

full fragile lift}

The light stays on

I let it (ahhhh) {felt piano coda,

glockenspiel farewell}