[Intro] The thermostat reads the same as outside [Verse 1] I kept the receipt for every open palm You left on my skin like a deposit slip The night you stayed I counted the breaths Forty-three thousand and two, an unscheduled deposit I calibrated the thermostat down two degrees To offset the temporary heat increase Your warmth filled the left side of the bed But I tracked the loss in a ledger kept under my tongue Each morning I withdrew a little more silence From the joint account we never really funded [Pre-Chorus] Statement arrives with the morning frost Reference number zero-zero-one, date of last contact Line by line in a font too small to feel [Chorus] I itemized every kindness you gave Warmth was a transaction Warmth was a transaction Warmth was a transaction, zero balance And the balance never cleared [Verse 2] You fixed the latch on the window I never close I recorded the labor at a fair market rate A secret you told me while half-asleep I stored in escrow just in case you'd escape My hand on your neck measured pulse rates only Your taste catalogued in measurable trace units The empty side of the mattress retained a deficit Compounding nightly, a debt never paid [Chorus] I audit the tenderness under cold light Warmth was a transaction Warmth was a transaction Warmth was a transaction, compound interest And the interest buried me A foreclosure notice pinned to the pillow [Bridge] First: you borrowed my breathing for thirteen months Second: a kiss returned within the grace period Third: one held gaze, pending reconciliation Fourth: your absence now a final invoice Fifth: one unresolved argument, interest accrued Sixth: a shared silence left uncompounded I'm writing off the soft parts As uncollectable As uncollectable [Final Verse] Case closed, file archived under loss The thermostat now holds a permanent reading No body heat to offset the calibration drift I close the ledger with a signature in frost Your name redacted from every margin Every line item [Outro] The outside air meets the inside wall
