I keep the light on when I shouldn’t

it hums against the quiet air

your shadow’s gone but something lingers

like you’re still standing there

the mirror blurs around the edges

but I don’t wipe it clean

I let it hide the way I’m breaking

in places you’ve never seen

I sing it low so it won’t shatter

before it leaves my chest

every note feels like a fracture

I’m trying not to press

and it slips, it slips, I feel it slipping

every word I try to hold

like water running through my fingers

like something I can’t control

and I break, I break, I hear it breaking

in the echo of this room

every sound comes back a little louder

every line goes back to you

the tiles are cold beneath my shoulders

I lean into the ache

the air is thick with things unspoken

and every breath might break

my voice don’t land where it should land

it trembles, then it falls

but I keep singing through the silence

like you might hear it all

and it slips, it slips, I feel it slipping

every note I try to save

like a memory losing colour

like a name I couldn’t say

and I break, I break, I keep it breaking

let it crack inside the sound

if I hold it any tighter

I might never get it out

if I sing it like I mean it

will it hurt a little less

or just echo in the hollow

you left inside my chest

it slips… it slips…

and I can’t hold it now

it breaks… it breaks…

and I don’t stop it now