Intro
(yeah)
(look)
Five in the morning, radiator clank
Steam on the glass, draw the blinds back
Verse
Radiator knocking like a hammer on zinc
Left the kettle on the iron just to watch the metal steam
Five winters in a jacket that was worn paper thin
Walking hard against the crosswind with the chin tucked in
Autopilot through the turnstile, metro card swipe
Kept the ledger in my skull just to calibrate the hype
Wasn't hurting, wasn't healing, had the dial turned low
Like a pilot light flickering beneath the snow
Used to measure out the oxygen like rationed coin
Never trusting any hinge or a rusted joint
Just a muscle with a cadence, twenty miles of stride
Locking every single window from the inside
Now the frost starts sweating on the windowsill pane
Chest aches when I take in the sudden sting of rain
That's the price of admission when the feeling starts
Heavy ribs making room for a beating heart
Chorus
Pulling cold wind through borrowed lungs (lungs)
Heavy iron on the roof of my tongue (tongue)
Learned to survive with the fire turned down
Now the heat's coming back to this hollow town
Yeah we breathe till the ribcage hums (hums)
Taking life in on borrowed lungs
Verse
Sun slant sideways, four-forty-five
Watch the dust in the beam where the shadows dive
Felt my collarbone drop, let the tension release
First afternoon I noticed any kind of breeze
Ain't a victory march, it's a slow thaw out
Trading out the steady silence for a little doubt
Carried armor for so long that it turned to lead
Waking up with the pulse knocking in my head
Coffee grounds in the filter, water boiling black
Learning how to walk forward without looking back
Every tendon kept the score of the miles I ran
Uncurling the fingers of a white-knuckled hand
Hear the bassline vibrating through the floorboard grain
Blood warm in the vessel like a moving train
Not running for the exit, not climbing the wall
Just standing in the room and accepting it all
Chorus
Pulling cold wind through borrowed lungs (lungs)
Heavy iron on the roof of my tongue (tongue)
Learned to survive with the fire turned down
Now the heat's coming back to this hollow town
Yeah we breathe till the ribcage hums (hums)
Taking life in on borrowed lungs
Bridge
Held the breath so long I forgot to exhale
Thought the numbness was peace till the colors turned pale
Now the draft hits the throat like a bell in the chest
Took a decade of surviving just to learn to rest
Crack the latch on the frame, let the current blow in
Feel the weather taking root underneath the skin
Outro
Ribs expand (expand)
Feet flat on the floor
Ain't holding back the breath no more
Cold air in
Let the engine run
Living on borrowed lungs
