Layers

Your voice comes through the empty room

Too faint to catch the words

I turn toward the place you stood

And feel the distance stir

There's nothing here to lay hands on

But something holds me back

I reach until the feeling fades Then reach into the lack

Somewhere, you still call

Something won't let go

I press against it all

It tells me, not yet

So close I almost hear you

So far I can't get through

How many layers keep me

An empty room from you?

I'd give anything... To break through

to

you

I thought I'd found a thinner place Where something might give way

But every layer that I pass Leaves one more in its place

I hear you moving further off

I beg you, stay right there

I throw your name against the dark It leaves without an echo

Let me through this once

Let me hear you clear

The answer never turns

It tells me, not yet

So close I almost hear you

So far I can't get through

How many layers keep me

An empty room from you?

I'd give anything... To break through

to you

Who gets to say When I've had time?

You're lost in there I'm still outside No seam to pull No

edge to find I feel it yield— Then I'm denied

Are you still there?

I've lost your voice

I hold my breath

Then hear my own

So close I almost hear you

So far I can't get through

How many layers keep me

An empty room from you?

I'd give anything... To

break through to you