[Intro — clean tapped arpeggios, 5/8] count it off: one, two, three, four, five — and whiskey breath — a nebula words dragged out on comet tails he traced asterisms on my palm Orion's belt, Cassiopeia's throne nails like crescent moons, all dirt [Verse 1 — 7/8, voice close to the mic] I pressed my ear to his ribs a radio telescope tuned to dead stars mama left in a Chevy trailing gasoline au- roras we don't speak in daylight but the nights— the nights are theater [Pre-chorus — stop-start, palm mutes] engine ticking like a metronome wheat bending under the wind's fingernails and Vega's a diamond drillbit— (bores straight through God's kneecap) Vega's a diamond drillbit— (bores straight through God's kneecap) [Chorus — full band, big open chords, 4/4 over 6/8] counting cigarette cherries in the dirt red dwarfs dying — one, two, three, four counting his teeth like yellowed tombstones counting the seconds before my orbit breaks red dwarfs dying and I licked the salt from his collar and I learned to parse silence — as language [Verse 2 — twinkle, 11/8] tears don't float here — they swarm fluid dynamics died at the airlock saltwater condenses into nautilus shells Fibonacci spirals grazing my lips taste of rust and Little League bleachers polycarbonate groans like the porch swing's chains the blister module breathes I unzip my skin [Interlude — spoken, over a looping 3-3-2 figure] AI: you're drifting four-oh-two kilometers above his grave "calculate time dilation between mourning and memory" AI: irrelevant. all corpses experience time as a closed loop. he's currently reliving 1997 — August 12th. Perseid peak. your hand in his— two cold satellites two cold satellites [Bridge — half-time, heavy] he's burning the couch where she nursed me polyester smoke braids my hair flames lick Andromeda from his pupils count his lies — three, four, five, and— [Breakdown — screamed, staccato, the math-rock release valve] every knuckle he never kissed! every Kansas cricket's scream! the Chevy's ghost still in his veins! (static — always static —) [Final Transmission — everything drops out, clean, fragile] she presses against the blister Earth rotates its tumorous blues somewhere below, two figures smolder in the wheat— a man whispering dead myths a girl swallowing starlight their ashes spiral up to meet me [Outro — one guitar, decelerating] the walls sweat I unthread my spine the void pours in — one, two, three, four, five, six, seven — and— (silence) 
