The hallway’s quiet, the lights are dimmed low
There’s a heavy kind of silence that won’t let us go
I fought the shadows until I ran out of breath
But some battles end in a different kind of rest
I’m sorry I had to leave before the sun came up
I left my heart overflowing in your cup

To my girl, keep your head high, find the stars in the night
To my boy, be the kindness, be the soul of the light
And to my love, my darlin’, don’t you weep for too long
Carry my name in the words of your song
I’m just a breath away, though I’m out of your sight
I’ll be the peace in the middle of the night

I won’t be there to walk you down that long aisle
Or to see your first trophy, or that winning smile
Cancer took the years, but it couldn’t touch the love
I’ll be watching every milestone from the rafters above
Check the oil in the car, keep the garden in bloom
I’m still the echo in every single room

It wasn’t fair, and it wasn’t the plan
To let go of the world as a dying man
But I’m not in the pain, and I’m not in the bed
I’m the voice in your heart and the strength in your head

To my girl, keep your head high, find the stars in the night
To my boy, be the kindness, be the soul of the light
And to my love, my darlin’, don’t you weep for too long
Carry my name in the words of your song
I’m just a breath away, though I’m out of your sight
I’ll be the peace in the middle of the night

The chair might be empty…
But the house is still full…
I love you…
I love you all

I found a box in the attic, covered in dust
The hinges were rusted, but I gave them a trust
Inside were the outlines of things you would say
In the quietest hours before you went away
Scraps of a blueprint for a life you had planned
Scribbled in ink by a shaking, tired hand

And oh, the letters I never wrote back
The questions I missed in the fading of track
I’m reading the wisdom you wanted to give
Teaching me, still, how a man ought to live
To my sister, you promised the moon and the sun
To my mother, you whispered that she was the one
I’m holding the ink of a ghost on the page
Trying to be brave at half of your age

There’s a note for the day that I first fall in love
And a prayer that you’re watching from somewhere above
You knew you were leaving, you knew time was thin
So you tucked all your secrets and stories within
It’s a map for a journey you couldn’t complete
A heart full of words in a box at my feet

I’m tracing the lines where the pen used to skip
When the strength in your fingers would start to let slip
You were fighting a war that you knew you would lose
But you left us the light that we needed to use

And oh, the letters I never wrote back
The questions I missed in the fading of track
I’m reading the wisdom you wanted to give
Teaching me, still, how a man ought to live
To my sister, you promised the moon and the sun
To my mother, you whispered that she was the one
I’m holding the ink of a ghost on the page
Trying to be brave at half of your age

I’ll finish the stories…
I’ll sign them for you…
I hear you in the quiet…
I’m starting to see it through

I’m standing on the corner of a street I used to know
Watching all the strangers with nowhere left to go
The clock on the cathedral is a second behind
Just like the tangled thoughts I’m trying to unwind
Everyone’s a blur, everyone’s a ghost
I’m just the anchor on a fading coast

Oh, I’m feeling the weight of the gravity now
The sky’s pressing down on my chest and my brow
It’s a heavy kind of silence, a beautiful ache
The kind of a fever that you just can’t shake
Yeah, I’m drowning in the quiet, I’m lost in the blue
Searching for a version of me that is true

I remember when the air felt light as a feather
Before we were braced for the change in the weather
Now I’m collecting the pieces of things that I’ve broke
Watching my certainties go up in smoke
The world is a hum that I can’t quite hear
Filtered through the static of another year

It’s not a breakdown, it’s a breakthrough
It’s the shedding of a skin I outgrew
Let the rain wash the dust from the glass
Let the shadows of the morning finally pass!

Oh, I’m feeling the weight of the gravity now
The sky’s pressing down on my chest and my brow
It’s a heavy kind of silence, a beautiful ache
The kind of a fever that you just can’t shake
Yeah, I’m drowning in the quiet, I’m lost in the blue
Searching for a version of me that is true

Just let it fall…
Let the gravity take it all…
I’m still here…
I’m still here…

He keeps his smile in his pocket
Folded like an old receipt
Mornings taste like metal
Coffee cold on the passenger seat

Talks to his ghost in the mirror
Says “We used to stand so tall”
Buttons up his wrinkled collar
Like armor that forgot how to hold it all

He is the crack in the stained glass window
Letting all the weather in
He is the frame where a photograph’s missing
Fighting for a face within
He is the echo in an empty bedroom
Calling out his own name
Just a broken man
Broken man
Trying to bend back into shape

He walks past the little bakery
Where her laugh still seems to rise
Sugar on the air like memory
Burning at the edge of his eyes

Keeps her ring inside a drawer
Under socks he never wears
Tells himself he’s moving forward
But his feet stay nailed to the same old stairs

He is the crack in the stained glass window
Letting all the weather in
He is the frame where a photograph’s missing
Fighting for a face within
He is the echo in an empty bedroom
Calling out his own name
Just a broken man
Broken man
Trying to bend back into shape

If kindness had a weight
It would crush him where he stands
All the love he couldn’t carry
Slipping through his shaking hands oh…

He wants to say “I’m tired”
He wants to say “I tried”
But all that leaves his lips tonight
Is one long Aching sigh

He is the crack in the stained glass window
Letting all the weather in
He is the frame where a photograph’s missing
Fighting for a face within
He is the echo in an empty bedroom
Calling out his own name
Just a broken man
Broken man
Learning how to stand in the pain

So he lights one small soft candle
In the ruins of his faith
Takes one breath
Then one more after
Lets the hurt just have its place
Just a broken man
Broken man
Who hasn’t broken all the way

The rearview mirror is a ghost of who I was
I’m chasing down the yellow lines just because
The house was too quiet, the air was too still
I’m climbing the engine up this jagged hill
I’ve got a pocket full of regrets and a tank full of “why”
Underneath the heavy ceiling of a charcoal sky

Oh, let the midnight chrome catch the tears in my eyes
I’m traded the truth for a thousand hollow lies
No more shadows, no more chains
Just the cold iron shaking and the blood in my veins
I’m driving ‘til the ache starts to fade…
In this machine that I’ve made

The radio’s humming a static filled prayer
I can feel the winter in the desert air
They say you can’t run from the things that you’ve done
But I’m desperate to outpace the rising sun
The needle’s on the red, but my heart’s in the blue
I’m ten miles north of the man I once knew

I’m not looking for a finish line
I’m just looking for a sign
That I’m still alive…
That I can survive the drive

Oh, let the midnight chrome catch the tears in my eyes
I’m traded the truth for a thousand hollow lies
No more shadows, no more chains
Just the cold iron shaking and the blood in my veins
I’m driving ‘til the ache starts to fade…
In this machine that I’ve made

Just me and the road
Just the weight of the load
Midnight…
Midnight chrome

I’ve been carrying a heavy kind of luggage in my throat
A stack of letters that I never even wrote
I keep the conversation running in my head
Polishing the things that I should have clearly said
But the air gets thin when the timing’s right
And I swallow my pride in the middle of the night

Oh, the half-said words are the hardest to bear
They’re hanging like ghosts in the cold morning air
A “thank you,” an “I’m sorry,” a “wait for me, please”
They’re bringing a grown man down to his knees
Yeah, it’s a silent weight, it’s a quiet crime
Losing the race to a thing called time

I practiced my speech in the glass of the door
But I left my courage on the cold kitchen floor
Now I’m reading the subtext in the lines of your face
Feeling like a runner who’s stuck in one place
We talk about the weather and we talk about the news
While I’m shaking in my skin and I’m hiding the views

Is it ever too late to just let it all out?
To trade all the whispers for a beautiful shout?
I’m tired of the “almost,” I’m tired of the “near”
I’m cutting the anchor of this old fashioned fear!

Oh, the half-said words are the hardest to bear
They’re hanging like ghosts in the cold morning air
A “thank you,” an “I’m sorry,” a “wait for me, please”
They’re bringing a grown man down to his knees
Yeah, it’s a silent weight, it’s a quiet crime
Losing the race to a thing called time

I’m opening my mouth…
I’m letting it go…
I should have told you…
A long time ago

I’m putting on the face that the world wants to see
A polished up version of the wreckage of me
I tie my tie like a tourniquet tight
To keep all the shadows away from the light
I’m checking the mirror, I’m practicing the grin
While the walls of the hallway are caving back in

I’m a master of small talk, a king of the “fine”
I’ve walked every inch of this invisible line
But the seams are starting to fray at the edge
I’m standing too close to the back of the ledge
And nobody notices, nobody hears
The sound of a mountain dissolving in tears

Oh, I’m wearing the costume, I’m playing the part
While the winter is freezing the beat of my heart
It’s a heavy production, a beautiful show
But I’m running on empty with nowhere to go
Yeah, the mask is so heavy, the lights are too bright
I just want to take it all off for the night

Does anyone see me?
Does anyone know?!
Is there a person beneath all the “hello”s?!
I’m screaming in silence, I’m breaking in two
Searching for someone to see what is true!

Oh, I’m wearing the costume, I’m playing the part
While the winter is freezing the beat of my heart
It’s a heavy production, a beautiful show
But I’m running on empty with nowhere to go
Yeah, the mask is so heavy, the lights are too bright
I just want to take it all off for the night

The curtains are closing…
The audience is gone…
How am I supposed to…
Keep putting it on?

The streetlamp is flickering outside the glass
Watching the ghosts of our memories pass
You’re packing the silence into a suitcase of leather
While I’m trying to remember our “always together”
The floorboards are cold and the hallway is wide
There’s nowhere for a broken man left to hide

I hear the keys jingle, a sharp, metallic ring
It’s funny the sorrow that a small sound can bring
You don’t say a word, and I don’t ask you to stay
We’ve already thrown all the good words away
Now I’m just counting the cracks in the ceiling
Numb to the point where I’ve run out of feeling

And oh, it’s just me and the ivory keys
Begging the shadows for a moment of ease
I’m watching the taillights fade into the black
Knowing there’s nothing that’s bringing you back
It’s the sound of a door that won’t open again
The final “amen” to the “where” and the “when”

I’ll stay in the dark ’til the morning appears
Tracing the path of a thousand lost years
One note for the laughter, one note for the pain
One note for the way that I whispered your name

And oh, it’s just me and the ivory keys
Begging the shadows for a moment of ease
I’m watching the taillights fade into the black
Knowing there’s nothing that’s bringing you back
It’s the sound of a door that won’t open again
The final “amen” to the “where” and the “when”

The light is gone now
The room is just air
I’m reaching for someone…
Who isn’t…
There

I’m standing in the hallway, in the silver and the gray
Trying to find the words that I lost along the way
The glass is on the floor like a map of my mistakes
Every jagged corner is a memory that aches
I reached out for a person that I couldn’t even name
And found a thousand faces all looking back the same

There’s a piece of me at seven, there’s a piece of me at ten
There’s a piece that’s still waiting for the world to begin
One shard holds the anger, another holds the fear
And one is just a vacuum where the truth used to appear
I’m picking up the edges, I’m bleeding on the floor
Trying to put together what was broken long before

Oh, I’m staring at the shards of me tonight
Reflecting all the shadows and a little bit of light
I’m a puzzle made of lightning, I’m a story made of stone
Trying to be a whole man in a house of the unknown
Yeah, the mirror’s in a million bits and I can’t go back
I’m just the color bleeding through the lines of every crack

Don’t try to fix it!
Don’t try to glue the soul!
The cracks are where the light gets in, the cracks are what are whole!
I’m letting go of “perfect,” I’m embracing the mess
I’m the beauty in the wreckage, I’m the “no” and I’m the “yes!”

Oh, I’m staring at the shards of me tonight
Reflecting all the shadows and a little bit of light
I’m a puzzle made of lightning, I’m a story made of stone
Trying to be a whole man in a house of the unknown
Yeah, the mirror’s in a million bits and I can’t go back
I’m just the color bleeding through the lines of every crack

I see it now…
The beauty in the break…
I’m finally…
Waking up…
For my own sake

The room is getting colder, the shadows getting long
I’m trying to remember the verses of our song
But the keys are feeling heavy, and my fingers won’t cooperate
I’m sitting in the wreckage of a life I came to hate
Just the ivory beneath me and the wood against my chest
A heart that’s finally tired, and a soul that needs to rest

I hear the cello crying, a low and hollow sound
Like a hammer hitting softly on the frozen winter ground
There’s no more room for anger, there’s no more room for pride
Just the rising of the water and the turning of the tide
I’m staring at the doorway, but I know you won’t appear
I’m the only one left breathing in the atmosphere

Oh, it’s just the piano and the weeping of the string
The final, bitter winter that the ending had to bring
No more masks to hide behind, no more roads to run
I’m standing in the shadow of a dark and dying sun
It’s pure and it is quiet, it’s the truth I couldn’t face
The sound of a man disappearing, without a trace

Let the music take the burden…
Let the silence take the breath…
There’s a comfort in the coldness…
There’s a beauty in this death

Oh, it’s just the piano and the weeping of the string
The final, bitter winter that the ending had to bring
No more masks to hide behind, no more roads to run
I’m standing in the shadow of a dark and dying sun
It’s pure and it is quiet, it’s the truth I couldn’t face
The sound of a man disappearing without a trace

Just a vibration…
Then a hush…
I’m ready now

The walls are closing in, they’re tasting like the dust
Every part of me is turning into rust
I’m reaching for a hand that isn’t made of air
But there’s nobody standing in the doorway over there
The silence is a predator, it’s eating at my chest
I’m hollowed out and empty, I’ve failed every test

I tried to hold the water in the palms of my hands
But it slipped through my fingers like the hourglass sands
My names been forgotten, my shadow’s gone thin
I’m a house with no windows, letting nobody in
I’m crying out for mercy to a sky that’s made of lead
While I’m laying in the wreckage of the things I never said

And oh, it’s the ending, there’s no coming back
I’m falling through the center of a bottomless black
The tears are like acid, they’re burning through the bone
The most terrifying thing is being this far alone
There’s no light in the tunnel, there’s no hand on the latch
I’m a dying fire looking for a final broken match

It hurts to be alive!
It hurts to even breathe!
I’m begging for the world to just… let me… leave!

And oh, it’s the ending, there’s no coming back
I’m falling through the center of a bottomless black
The tears are like acid, they’re burning through the bone
The most terrifying thing is being this far alone
There’s no light in the tunnel, there’s no hand on the latch
I’m a dying fire looking for a final broken match

Don’t… remember… me
Forget… I was… here

The storm has gone quiet, the ashes are cold
I’m finally the man that no one can hold
No tears and no questions, no fire in the night
Just the gray of the shadow where there used to be light
The room is now empty, the mirror is still
I’ve finally arrived at the edge of the hill

It’s over…
Let the noise take me home
Into the white…
Of the great unknown

AfroRila…
Emotional…