Skin Remembers the Heat (Version 2)

Intro

Radiator clanking in the corner of the room

Cold on the knuckles till the daylight starts to bloom

(steady)

(heat)

Verse

Winter on my collar, kept the windows down at eighty

Drove across the river just to tell myself I'm waking

Copper in the mouth from clenching molars every evening

Counting telephone poles just to regulate the breathing (breathing)

Used to treat my pulse like a tenant that was late

Put the deadbolt on the door and let the notices accumulate

Cardboard coffee sleeve burning straight into the thumb

First time in eleven months that I wasn't feeling numb (numb)

Frost on the wipers leaving tracks like little veins

Heater core rattling against the early rain

Took the heavy leather off and threw it on the floor

Never knew how much my ribs were leaning on that door

Felt the floorboards hum through the rubber of the soles

Patching up the drywall, patching up the holes

Blood moving heavy, taking corners in the chest

Learning what it feels like when you finally let it rest (rest)

Chorus

Cold iron radiator clinking by the wall

Took a couple winters just to let the shadow fall

Now the pulse is heavy and the floor is under me

Skin remembers the heat

Skin remembers the heat (heat)

Verse

Two-dollar lighter, spark is catching on the wick

Used to move so fast the minutes never seemed to stick (stick)

Now I'm standing barefoot on linoleum squares

Hearing grease pop, taking inventory on the stairs

No armor on the collar, no static on the tongue

Surviving was a reflex, living is a lung (lung)

Filled up with oxygen that tastes like asphalt rain

Old baseline rumbling underneath the freight train

Had my shoulders tucked in tight against the blowing grit

Scared of every ember in the pocket where it lit

Now the sunburn sits across the bridge of my nose

Water from the faucet finally thawing out the hose

Tracing every mark like a map along the wrist

Not to count the damage, just to know that I exist (exist)

Seasons shift their weight on the corner of the block

Hands off the emergency, rhythm in the clock

Chorus

Cold iron radiator clinking by the wall

Took a couple winters just to let the shadow fall

Now the pulse is heavy and the floor is under me

Skin remembers the heat

Skin remembers the heat (heat)

Bridge

Freezing was safe because nothing could hurt

Now the midday pavement is steaming in the dirt

Scared of the flame whenever it starts

Afraid of the kickback, the rush in the parts

That I buried so deep in the salt of the frost

Counting what's breathing instead of what's lost (lost)

Outro

Bare arm out the window on the gravel road

Engine running quiet under all that heavy load

(steady)

Let it idle slow

Skin remembers the heat (heat)