# ONE MINUTE _ TEN YEARS (1)

[Intro] [acoustic guitar riff, light percussion] 30... 30... 38... (hmm-mm) [Verse 1] [male vocals, rhythmic delivery] The report said Asperger's, used name for a pattern The pattern predates the paperwork No field on the farm explains how to catch a feeling Before my mouth files it wrong Intake date, black ink, three neat little boxes Often, sometimes, never For a whole life in the margins, latched tongue Cover clicked in a plate shift Learned danger by acoustics before language could name it Face change, phrase stay same, words strange way Heard the sentence exactly where they laid it out What they meant, somehow the question became the problem Literal, invisible, sentences pre-edited Event time and tone stress, body follow amendments Three hours post-conflict, bathroom sink, toothbrush Argument closed, 11 sharp, 2:13 Heard reports, toothpaste dry on white against porcelain One word finally surfaced: humiliated Not mad, that's the delay Body files first, language files late [Chorus] [melodic vocals, fuller instrumentation] One minute on my tongue can age ten years In somebody else's record Don't let a one minute write ten years Don't let a one sentence become the sentence If I can't name it, I don't name you Can't improvise what raised me I can improvise with ease my mouth One minute, ten years (uh-huh) One minute, ten years (uh-huh) [Verse 2] Delayed recognition, replay, turn religion Retreat, return, re-listen, interrupt split decision Rebuild the breathing, wrist angle, hand position What I witnessed was what she said, what I heard was mean When missing room turns familiar, angles painfully particular Syllables, index, pause length, breath break, vowel clip Feeling arrives after twelve revisions By the time I call it hurt, they've lived through my first edition Message marched with a 5:42 code on touchpads Past six, partners hurt, contempt where I thought I bought reflection Bill long, got efficient, grocery receipt style by aisle No hidden meaning when nobody revises the schedule But solitude can teach disagreement only prevented Avoidance wears achievement's clothes until somebody tests it Bet on one phrase, finds the beam, the old house Heard 38 beats 12 before either one knows it did [Bridge] Diagnosis belongs in evidence Pain explains the case, not the sentence An apology can land exact after damage already learned your address Clean tank can't carry back what somebody carried because of it Both facts remain, no winner required Just enough time not to manufacture one [Verse 3] 2:13 screen lit, three drafts First draft: you always Second: you never We always build a case and never stretch one minute into permanent record Jaw set, oak, re-convenes the lead you occupy Keep what you did, keep the action, lose the verdict You didn't call, this record don't care As character, one name's an action, one manufactures an act The pain crops the camera, swears the frame is accurate Hurt adds adjectives, certainty starts back in its strip What happened from what hurt, decided that it meant precision Used in precisely packed punishment in side-eye drafts Stays unsent, screen dims, 2:33 [Outro] [melodic refrain] 20 minutes later the sentence gets smaller When you didn't call I felt like I didn't matter No charge, no character, no verdict attached One thing happened outside, one happened inside One you are Almost made the second one permanent For years I asked, why can't anybody understand me? Harder question: can I understand myself early enough That somebody else doesn't remember me at my least accurate? The child arrived untranslated, the man got a different assignment Sometimes 12 gets the microphone before 38 reaches the sentence Feeling can arrive late, consequence doesn't have to 2:33, draft unsent If I can't name it, I don't name you [acoustic guitar fades out]