Come here
I learned silence in more than one tongue
And I learned what wears a face in every one

I watched you dance
I watched you dance from a distance
I watched you dance
I watched you dance from a distance
I had to keep moving
I had to survive
To live another day
To make a move

I spoke in fragments
Never flame
’Cause she could turn my love into a game
She wore concern like Sunday clean perfume
Then turned the kitchen quiet into doom
Home went hallway
Trapdoor tight
Comfort with a clause
Kiss with a bite
She salted love and called it a cure
Left my tenderness tasting small and poor

I had to whisper
’Cause walls don’t keep a secret
I had to smile
’Cause fear can smell when you mean it
I had to swallow thunder
Bite my pride
From a distance
From a distance
Close enough to see you
Far enough to keep you

I loved you from doorways
From corners
From code
’Cause she carried a cage in the way she spoke
Her lullaby sounded like help and I’m hurt
Then turned you to leverage and love into dirt
I learned to speak in shadows
So you live and she can’t print
Now I’m bringing that beast down
Watch the mask come off

From a distance
From a distance

I watched you dance
Like a hostage with a gun to your head
She held the trigger
My anger went quiet then red
The walls heard everything
Then played them dumb
Like stone got manners
Fields got tongue
The kettle screamed
The silence stayed polite
That’s how it feeds
Everything’s alright
She moved like normal
Neat correct composed
A smile that shuts doors without them closed
She stacked my grief like paper clean and flat
Then made me wear the blame like Sunday hat
So I stayed still
Stayed sharp
Stayed unseen
Till staying back turned into something mean

Not in the sirens
Not in the streets
Not in the sermons
Not in the sweet
Not in the laughter
Not in the fine
She heard my breathing
So I stayed in line
From a distance
From a distance

I loved you from doorways
From corners
From code
’Cause she carried a cage in the way she spoke
Her lullaby sounded like help and I’m hurt
Then turned you to leverage and love into dirt
I learned to speak in shadows
So you live and she can’t print
Now I’m bringing that beast down
Watch the mask come off

Look at me
None of this was in your hands
You got moved like a piece in somebody’s plans
And you my baby
I carry you in breath
Not in closure
Not in time
Not in left
Light don’t beg
Light just arrives
Truth don’t knock
Truth kicks inside
If I burn my name to make it clear
I’ll do it clean
And keep you here

I loved you from doorways
From corners
From code
’Cause she carried a cage in the way she spoke
Her lullaby sounded like help and I’m hurt
Then turned you to leverage and love into dirt
I learned to speak in shadows
So you live and she can’t print
Now I’m bringing that beast down
Watch the mask come off

If I looked away
It was to learn the room
Now I’m done surviving
Now I’m designing the fall
From a distance
She killed my baby with salt