I used to count the seconds like calories, each breath a measured bite Midnight glare on the windshield, city mirrors swallowing my light Mama’s voice like broken china, I learned to hush it with a chew Pocket full of paper promises, mouth full of something false and new The mirror keeps a ledger of the nights I never paid for I trade my name for seconds I can’t keep, and the wallet is never sure I am a cavern with a heartbeat, hollow and alive Gnawing at the edges of the life I left outside Feed me all your silver words, I’ll swallow every lie I’m drowning in the buffet of myself, and I still ask for more I gorge on borrowed comforts, every swallow steals my score The banquet keeps me captive while I beg for just one more I built myself a spread from the wreckage of my days Served memories on porcelain, watched them steam away Laughter like a silver spoon, tasting sweeter on the tongue Every promise I consumed became something I’d outrun The clock is always hungry, it chews through bone and skin I bargain with tomorrow for a moment carved in sin I am a cavern with a heartbeat, hollow and alive Gnawing at the edges of the life I left outside Feed me all your silver words, I’ll swallow every lie I’m drowning in the buffet of myself, and I still ask for more I gorge on borrowed comforts, every swallow steals my score The banquet keeps me captive while I beg for just one more There’s a quarry in my chest where the miners never sleep They dig with teeth of habit, haul regrets in heaps Candles gutter in the pantry, wax pooling on my hands I count the plates like relics, a pilgrimage of demand Rip the cloth, steal the hush, I eat the silence whole Every bite a confession, every chew a stolen soul Gutted like an old refrain, I sing the hunger’s praise Claw the ceiling for salvation, but I’m lost inside the maze I am a cavern with a heartbeat, hollow and alive Gnawing at the edges of the life I left outside Feed me all your silver words, I’ll swallow every lie I’m drowning in the buffet of myself, and I still ask for more One last plate, a whispered grace, I try to close my mouth I fell to my knees with crumbs of sorrow in my hands He lifted me from tables where I’d learned to make demands His voice unstitched the ledger, counted every debt and scar Where once I ate my solace, now I follow a guiding star He holds the light for me to be drawn My hunger is finally gone
