Folded setlists on the floor
Warm bulbs cooling overhead
My guitar case open wide
Like it still expects your hand

The last door shuts with a tired little click
Broom down the aisle, tape marks on the bricks
Somebody laughed here an hour ago
Now the ceiling hums where the voices don’t
I count my steps by the sound they make
One for the smile, one for the shake
I told them I was good
I almost made it true

But strength has a costume
And mine’s coming loose

When the lights lean low
And the whole room thins
I hear what I hid
Come breathing in
I don’t have to carry
The face I defend
I meet myself
Where the applause ends

A half-drunk bottle by the monitor stand
Your name in my throat like a match in my hand
I pack up the cables, I coil up the night
Leave one little bulb fighting sleep in the side light
The stage looks smaller when nobody sees
All that brave wood underneath my knees
I bow to the quiet
It bows back to me

When the lights lean low
And the whole room thins
I hear what I hid
Come breathing in
I don’t have to carry
The face I defend
I meet myself
Where the applause ends

For a minute, nothing asks me to shine
Nothing calls my hurt a sign
No hands in the air
No mouth saying stay
Just dust in the beams
And the truth with my name

When the lights lean low
And the whole room thins
I hear what I hid
Come breathing in
I don’t have to carry
The face I defend
I let silence hold me
Where the applause ends

Folded setlists on the floor
One bulb humming overhead
I close the case
And leave the echo open