The Fire Told Me (Match)

[Intro, close-mic whisper, soft rasp] Coal dust on my tongue, lamp oil in my hands, mother said, “Don’t stare too long, fire makes no friends.” But it hummed beneath the boilers, it breathed behind the wall, and when the dark got hungry, I could hear it call. [Verse 1, gentle, weary, intimate] I was born where the chimneys choke the sky, where the children cough and the old men lie, where the work bell rings like a funeral hymn, and the daylight never really gets in. I learned the weight of a lantern glass, learned how heat can break and pass, learned how metal screams before it bends, learned how every little spark pretends. They called it labor, called it trade, called it wages poorly paid, but I saw roses in the glow, little red mouths saying things I shouldn’t know. [Pre-Chorus, softer, trembling fascination] And I know, I know, I know what they say, that fire only hungers, then it takes you away. But it held me close when the cold got mean, showed me things no one else had seen. [Chorus, emotional, cascading, rising with wonder] The fire told me, soft and low, “There’s a rose where the black winds blow.” The fire told me, bright and true, “Burn the lie till the truth comes through.” Oh, it blooms, it climbs, it sings, it sighs, golden hands and amber eyes, it curls, it crowns, it kisses the night, and I love it, I love it, I love its light. The fire told me, hush now, dear, “Everything hidden will appear.” The fire told me, sweet and wild, “You were never just a factory child.” [Verse 2, rougher edge, more confession] There was something under Coalridge stone, something chewing through pipe and bone, something fat on smoke and fear, something laughing when the workers disappeared. The foremen smiled with silver teeth, while poor men burned in the rooms beneath, and the flame kept tapping at my skin, saying, “Little Match, let me in.” So I opened the door, and the night turned red, and the roofs all crowned themselves in dread. Some men ran and some men prayed, some debts were paid in the light I made. [Pre-Chorus, pained, breath catching] And I know, I know, I know what they say, that I lost my soul on a burning day. But I saw its face in the furnace glow, and the fire said, “Child, you had to know.” [Chorus, bigger, passionate, cascading] The fire told me, soft and low, “There’s a rose where the black winds blow.” The fire told me, bright and true, “Burn the lie till the truth comes through.” Oh, it blooms, it climbs, it sings, it sighs, golden hands and amber eyes, it curls, it crowns, it kisses the night, and I love it, I love it, I love its light. The fire told me, hush now, dear, “Everything hidden will appear.” The fire told me, sweet and wild, “You were never just a factory child.” [Bridge, quiet at first, then building into feverish devotion] Look at my fingers, red as the wick, scarred up holy, burned up quick. These hands remember every flame, every room and every name. Ash in a bottle, smoke in my hair, saints in the cinders, ghosts in the air. If the dark comes crawling through, I know what my little light can do. [Breakdown, whispered prayer over low drums] No, I don’t scream. No, I don’t run. I listen close when the burning’s begun. It speaks in roses, it speaks in wire, it speaks in kisses made of fire. [Final Chorus, full emotion, raspy but beautiful] The fire told me, soft and low, “There’s a rose where the black winds blow.” The fire told me, bright and true, “Burn the lie till the truth comes through.” Oh, it blooms, it climbs, it sings, it sighs, golden hands and amber eyes, it curls, it crowns, it kisses the night, and I love it, I love it, I love its light. The fire told me, hush now, dear, “Everything hidden will appear.” The fire told me, sweet and wild, “You were never just a factory child.” [Outro, soft, distant, almost tender] Coal dust on my tongue, red marks on my hands, if you hear the fire singing… maybe you’ll understand. The fire told me. The fire told me. The fire told me. And I believed.