[Intro: Rhodes, soft horn] Last bus smells like metal and rain Transfer stub folded like a name [Verse 1] I punch out at midnight with a grease stain on my sleeve Walk two blocks to the stop where the schedule likes to leave She is always on the bench with a thermos and a book Night auditor at the hotel, tired in the look Driver nods us both aboard like we are part of the route I sit one seat back and I never quite speak out First week we traded weather, second week we traded shifts Third week she asked my name and I felt the ice lift She said, I collect the stubs so the nights do not erase I said, that is a system, and I liked it in my face Now my jacket pocket holds a stack like a thin receipt Proof we shared a bus when the city was asleep [Hook: sung, horns answer] Transfer stub, transfer stub Paper from the fare Transfer stub, transfer stub Proof that we were there Two night shifts and one last bus and a bench that holds the cold Friendship built on transfers and the stories left untold Transfer stub, transfer stub Folded in the seam Transfer stub, transfer stub Quieter than a dream [Verse 2] She told me about a brother who stopped calling in the spring I told her about a landlord who was always threatening Neither of us fixed a thing, we just passed the quiet time Watched the empty stores roll by like a low-budget rhyme One night the bus broke down by the river and the bridge Driver said an hour, maybe two, and we did not flinch Shared the thermos coffee that had cooled into a dare Laughed about the hotel guests who tip in loose despair She said, if I miss this route I will not know how to end I said, same, and we both stared like the sentence was a friend Transfer printed with a time that already had gone past I kept it anyway because the past is what we have [Double-Time Switch: stacked, no commas] Punch the clock wipe the grease walk the blocks miss the light catch the bench see the book hear the diesel take the step find the seat keep the quiet like a craft Weather talk then the shift talk then the name talk then the stub talk then the brother then the landlord then the coffee then the laugh Broken bus by the river with the bridge lights on the water and an hour on the radio and a thermos passed in half Pocket full of paper proof that midnight had a witness when the city tried to act like nobody else was on the path [Hook] Transfer stub, transfer stub Paper from the fare Transfer stub, transfer stub Proof that we were there Two night shifts and one last bus and a bench that holds the cold Friendship built on transfers and the stories left untold Transfer stub, transfer stub Folded in the seam Transfer stub, transfer stub Quieter than a dream [Chopper Burst: triplet bounce, flow switch] Stub in the pocket then the fold then the date then the time then the route then the seat then the rain on the glass then the name I almost said Bench in the dark then the book then the thermos then the driver then the nod then the diesel then the bridge then the quiet we both read Brother gone quiet landlord loud hotel tips loose factory grease stain midnight punch and a friendship that never needed a speech to be fed Last bus home is a chapel if you listen and the transfer is a hymn if you keep it and the city cannot take what we never had to shred [Verse 3] She got day shift in September and the bench went cold for me I still ride the last bus like the habit is a key Found a stub she left under the seat with a note in pencil thin "Keep collecting. Nights get lighter when somebody else is in." I put it with the others in the pocket by the seam Some friendships are a transfer that outlasts the regime [Final Hook] Transfer stub, transfer stub Paper from the fare Transfer stub, transfer stub Proof that we were there Two night shifts and one last bus and a bench that holds the cold Friendship built on transfers and the stories left untold Transfer stub, transfer stub Folded in the seam Transfer stub, transfer stub Quieter than a dream [Outro: Rhodes, horn fade, spoken] Last bus smells like metal and rain Transfer stub folded like a name I keep them all the same
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