The fridge hums low
The hallway ticks
I hear my breath
And what it misses

Everybody leaves in pieces
Shoes by the door, keys in a dish
One last laugh down the driveway
Then the night folds in like this
I push the chair back to the table
Too neat for a room this tired
The floor gives one small answer
Like it knows I’m still inside

I can outrun it in the daytime
I can drown it under sound
But the walls stop taking cover
When the dark comes sitting down

When the house goes quiet
I hear what I can’t say
Every room gets wider
Every light feels far away
I keep myself together
Till the noise has all gone home
When the house goes quiet
I know I’m not alone
And I hate that I’m alone

There’s a cup beside the sink now
And a towel on the chair
Little proof that I kept moving
Little lies that I was there
The refrigerator shivers
The old pipes clear their throat
I stand still in the kitchen
Like the silence left a note

I can make it look like healing
I can keep the edges clean
But there’s nothing left to hide behind
At a quarter after three

When the house goes quiet
I hear what I can’t say
Every room gets wider
Every light feels far away
I keep myself together
Till the noise has all gone home
When the house goes quiet
I know I’m not alone
And I hate that I’m alone

Then the rhythm drops out
And the walls don’t move
Just my hand on the counter
And the cold coming through
No one asks me to answer
No one tells me to be strong
The quiet doesn’t fix me
It just stays long enough

When the house goes quiet
I hear what I can’t say
Every room gets wider
Every light feels far away
I keep myself together
Till the noise has all gone home
When the house goes quiet
I stop running from alone

The chair sits still
The hallway ticks
I breathe once more
And leave the light as it is