Afterglow Ruins

We don't notice what we lose–
Till the quiet learns our names

The rooms still ring with used to be
A missing sound that follows me
We set the table for the air–
Then act like nobody was there
(Was there, was there)

We keep the lights the way they were
To trick the dark, to blur the blur
We scroll through laughter, polished bright
Like proof that we were once alright

A coat still hangs, a glass still shines
A doorway draws invisible lines
We say: I'm fine with perfect ease–
But fine is just a frozen please

And every day repeats the same
But nothing ever feels the same
We smile, we move, we keep the pace–
While absence wears a living face

The rooms still ring with used to be
A missing sound that follows me
We set the table for the air–
Then act like nobody was there

Turn it up, let silence break
Give the ache a beat to take
If the loss won't let us breathe–
Let the bass become belief

We learn the art of leaving fast
Of stepping over shattered past
We fold our grief in tidy stacks
Then wear it like a brand-new mask

Some nights the mirror feels too close–
It shows the parts we can't expose
We crave a noise, a brighter sin
To drown the choir under skin

Count to four, don't look back
Hold the smile, hide the crack
Move in time, stay composed–
Love turns ghost, love turns ghost

We don't fall– we disappear
Slowly, softly, year by year
We miss the hurt because it proved
There was a hand we used to hold

So teach the dark to carry light
Not as comfort– as a knife
Step in close, don't promise peace–
Just promise motion, promise beat

The rooms still ring with used to be
A missing sound that follows me
We set the table for the air–
Then act like nobody was there

Turn it up, let silence break
Give the ache a beat to take
If the loss won't let us breathe–
Let the bass become belief

We dance, so we don't vanish