Splice and Suture

I learned to live between the cuts
Where silence keeps the stitches shut

Tape hiss like snowfall in the desk-lamp cone
I chop yesterday smaller so it don't bruise my bones
Marker on the cassette - dates, arrows, little lies
Heart on the waveform, trying not to sanitize
Needle drops, I flinch, then I let it come back
Grief got a groove and it stays in the crack
I mute what I can't carry, unmute what I can
Hands full of shards - still building a man
Room-tone prayer, kick hit like a front-door slam
Snare like a stamp on the paper: "still am"
Bass warms the floorboards, coat on a cold night
I breathe in the dust… and I practice alright

Cut it, keep it, glue it to the drum
Still here - even when the needle jumps
Fade the hurt, let the low end hum
I stitch my days till the daylight comes
Comes comes
I stitch my days till the daylight comes

Click track in my teeth, I count slow
Small wins in the drawer nobody opens
I drag the sample backward - hear the bruise talk
Flip it forward - give it feet, let it moonwalk
Bass clarinet sigh from the corner, dark silk tone
Like that one friend who don't "fix" you - just holds
I keep the crackle, keep the rough in the frame
'Cause truth got texture, not a polished name
I used to chase clean, now I keep the scrape
Let the hiss be the wind through the fire escape
Loose swing in the hats like a shopping cart wheel
If the tape chews up, I don't beef with the reel
I splice it again, make a doorway appear
Walk through the noise like it's finally clear

Just drums, just breath, just pulse
Proof of life in a bare-bones thump

If you hear the noise, hear me too
I kept the flaws so I wouldn't lose you
I kept the flaws so I wouldn't lose me

Cut it, keep it, glue it to the drum
Still here - even when the needle jumps
Fade the hurt, let the low end hum
I stitch my days till the daylight comes
I stitch my days till the daylight comes
And if it skips, I don't quit, I re-run

Needle lift, last breath, room still warm
I leave the loop running like a porch light on