Verse 1] Perihelion — the closest pass, the tightest turn The comet doesn't stop there, but it feels the fullest burn Then the long ellipse unwinds it back to quieter space Carrying the memory of sunlight on its face [Chorus] I came in close today — I felt the full heat of the star An hour at perihelion is what these mornings are Now the orbit opens outward, breakfast, kettle, day — But everything that follows knows how close I came [Verse 2] The watch can log the distance but it can't record the sum Of arguments concluded and the knots that came undone Eight kilometres of thinking that could happen nowhere else An hour spent orbiting the sun inside myself [Verse 3] The sweat is cooling now the way the oceans cooled the earth Steam becoming atmosphere, exhaustion becoming worth The heart descends the staircase that it took two at a time And every floor it passes says: you're fine, you're fine, you're fine [Chorus] I came in close today — I felt the full heat of the star An hour at perihelion is what these mornings are [Verse 4] Somewhere on this morning there are others coasting in Strangers on their own ellipses, cooling in the wind We never share a word but we're a constellation still — Scattered points of stubbornness on every coastal hill [Verse 5] The comets that stop coming are the ones that lost their ice They spent it all on spectacle — a tail looks very nice But I'm banking on the long return, the orbit I can keep The kind of burn that leaves enough to bring me back next week [Verse 6] And years from now the ledger of these mornings will be lost No record of the pace I held, the headwind, or the cost But orbits leave their mark in ways that ledgers can't contain: A body that keeps choosing to come close again, again [Chorus] I came in close today — I felt the full heat of the star An hour at perihelion is what these mornings are Now the orbit opens outward, breakfast, kettle, day — But everything that follows knows how close I came [Outro - whispered] Same orbit tomorrow. Same sun. Closer.
