Late sun on the iron rail (Version 2)

Intro

(Heat)

Late sun on the iron rail

Window open, letting all the salt drift in

(Yeah)

Verse

Winter kept my ribcage locked inside a vault (vault)

Saline on the tongue now, sweet instead of salt

Forty-watt filament buzzing in the hall

Shadow stretching eight feet long across the wall

Sitting on the stoop while the stucco radiates

Counting out the pulses in the iron paperweights

Two years sleeping with the collar pulled tight

Grinding down the molars, bracing for a fight (fight)

Now the faded linen on the shoulder blades loose

Pavement got a shimmer like a high-voltage fuse

Ceiling fan chopping up the humid yellow draft

First time in a calendar year I hear you laugh (laugh)

Thawing out the marrow where the frostbite stayed

Nothing was forgiven, but the quiet got paid

Sun settling heavy like an iron on the floor

Nothing in the deadbolt, nothing in the door

Chorus

Copper on the collarbone, ninety in the street

Even when the winter stayed, skin remembers the heat (heat)

Ticking like an engine block cooling on concrete

Even when the numb took over, skin remembers the heat (heat)

Verse

Water glass sweating rings down on the pine wood

Standing in the kitchen where the phantom aches stood (stood)

Transistor humming with the bassline low

Learning how to move when there is nowhere left to go

Peach on the cutting board, splitting at the seam

Waking up the sensory from inside a dream

You pass the cold bottle and our knuckles brush past

Current in the fingertips, shattering the glass (glass)

Used to keep the distance just to keep the pulse slow

Scared of any friction that could make the skin glow

Asphalt holds onto the noon until the night

Condenser fan rattling beneath the porch light (light)

Fabric on the sternum and the air feels sweet

Underneath the surface where the blood starts to beat

Not just surviving every minute on the clock

Feeling every vibration rolling down the block (block)

Chorus

Copper on the collarbone, ninety in the street

Even when the winter stayed, skin remembers the heat (heat)

Ticking like an engine block cooling on concrete

Even when the numb took over, skin remembers the heat (heat)

Bridge

Ice melts slow till the reservoir breaks

Count every tremor that the radiator makes

Spent too many seasons treating breathing like a chore

Now the evening rolls across an open front door (door)

Every single pore awake, drinking in the burn

Nothing left to guard now, nothing left to learn

Outro

Ninety in the street

(Heat)

Ticking on the concrete

Even when the numb took over

(Remembers)

Skin remembers the heat

(Heat)