[Verse 1] Morning wears borrowed laughter in the halls Little comets orbit rooms that used to know a sky Her pillow stays moon-cool, ribbon on a chair Windows wake themselves, no summons left to mind Horses take their feed in slow time, quiet in my head No more counting down the hours till they're home instead [Pre-Chorus] Storms were summoned early, alarm no one had to raise Sense could've held the center, calm could've kept its place [Chorus] This is shard armor, crystal-cut and winter-wide Catches all the light, keeps the storm inside Brittle as a halo, heavy as a star Marching through the quiet in a glass-made carapace of scars [Post-Chorus] Shard armor, keep the face Shard armor, hold the space Glitter, crack, sting, carry on Cold shine, warm heart, moving on [Verse 2] Out back, fields have the fillies and old mares Steam lifts off the earth the way forgiveness does Day moves in circles, rhythm spare Old sounds set the tempo for the was and wasn't-was Curbside choirs gather, backpacks, bright and small School-crossing flags wave mornings I don't answer to at all [Pre-Chorus] Summons never needed drift like weather off the plain A witness at the table nods, reason still remains [Chorus] This is shard armor, crystal-cut and winter-wide Catches all the light, keeps the storm inside Brittle as a halo, heavy as a star Marching through the quiet in a glass-made carapace of scars [Post-Chorus] Shard armor, keep the face Shard armor, hold the space Glitter, crack, sting, carry on Cold shine, warm heart, moving on [Verse 3] Corner-dwelling architects become my only friends So out of it I'm here for spiders and their threads Watch them work their patient geometry all day While everything that mattered drifts further away [Verse 4] Pretty faces at the bar blur the lines I should've drawn Trading depth for surfaces that shimmer and are gone Chasing birdies in the mirror when devotion waits at home Frozen water makes the shallow shine like something worth the roam [Bridge] Rumor is a wind-chime in a winter gust My own steps in the corridor kicking up old dust A taller shadow learns the weight of borrowed hours While faces I once knew bloom distant like winter flowers Shard is mirror-dust, a hush on metal rain Looks like tempered courage, hides a hairline vein [Verse 5] Fence posts line in rows, straightening the spine Work sets the metronome where floods won't cross the line Lunch-bell echoes travel like a train through town Small hands wave at the curb, I keep the paddocks down Names kept folded small, embers in a glove Distance clearing fields for the long return of love [Pre-Chorus] If love is real jurisdiction, let the echoes fall Gateposts set and level, steady to the call [Chorus] This is shard armor, pure not cut and winter-wide Catches all the light, keeps the storm inside Brittle as a halo, heavy as a star But under all that glitter lives a beating, open heart And the heart remembers what the armor tried to kill When the shards fall away, love is waiting still [Post-Chorus] Shard armor, keep the face Shard armor, hold the space Glitter, crack, sting, carry on Cold shine, warm heart, breaking through the dawn Breaking through, breaking through The heart was always true [Outro] Evening tucks a quiet in the rafters by the rail Breath turns silver in the pitch of winter air Not these ghosts, not these rooms, still a small light set to hail When the hinge remembers mercy, someone will be there
