Gymnopedie No1

exhale slow, watch it dissolve in the cold

some things leave a shape before they go

step outside, let the cold do its thing

lighter clicks, a small familiar sting

breath and smoke, can't tell 'em apart no more

winter got a way of keeping score

the street lights bleed through the frosted glass

Every face I knew feels like a photograph

faded at the edges, overexposed

memories like embers — warm until they're cold

smoke rising slow in the december air

replaying scenes like I could still be there

the piano keeps falling like the first snow falls

I'm just a ghost between these four walls

old voicemails I never had the heart to hear

I press play just to keep the voice somewhere near

the static hiss feels almost like a room

where everyone I lost is still in bloom

I trace the crack along the kitchen wall

remember that painting in the summer y'all

laughed until the sun was barely there —

now I carry it all in the winter air

smoke rising slow in the december air

replaying scenes like I could still be there

the piano keeps falling like the first snow falls

I'm just a ghost between these four walls

maybe memory's just smoke —

it takes a shape, then lets you go

dissipates but leaves the scent behind

that's the only kind of peace I find