The Calendar Flipped Early

[Intro - Female, half-sung] I flipped the page and the page flipped me [Verse 1 - Female rap] Kitchen light ugly at 1:03 Calendar hanging by a magnet and a grocery receipt September sitting there like it paid for the house I said "not yet" to an object. I felt stupid in my mouth We had a list: last swim, last late breakfast, last drive with no aim We did the dishes and called it a night and pretended that was the same I circled nothing. I should have circled you in ink Instead I circled "rent due" like a woman who knows how to think Now the window's breathing cold and I am learning your last name slower on purpose so the month cannot outrun the sound The calendar flipped early. I was looking at the ground [Pre-Chorus - Female sung] I planned on heat I planned on time I planned on saying stay without making it a crime [Verse 2 - Male country] I keep a paper calendar 'cause the phone lies easy Big squares, bad handwriting, days that look too clean Somebody in an office decided fall starts on a date They never stood in my yard and felt the light evacuate I had "fix the tail light" written under Saturday Had "call her back" written smaller, like I could delay being sure about a person if I kept it in the margin Then the morning came gray and the gray would not bargain Coffee tasted like a warning. Radio talked frost I laughed it off, then counted what it cost to act like we had August left inside a kitchen drawer The calendar flipped early. I walked out the door [Pre-Chorus - Male sung] I planned on slow I planned on late I planned on one more week to get the story straight [Chorus - Both] The calendar flipped early caught us in the act of living like the summer had a clause we could retract All those empty squares we swore we'd fill with noise Now the month is moving faster than the two of us as choice The calendar flipped early so I flipped it back in vain Paper does not listen when you whisper someone's name If the year won't wait politely we can meet it standing tall The calendar flipped early we can still have it all [Verse 3 - Female rap] Don't tell me "seasons change" like I have never owned a coat I know cold. I know clocks. I know hope with a sore throat What I do not know is how you look in a thicker kind of dark when the streetlights start their shift before we even leave the park That is the test. Not the picnic. Not the cute first-week glow It is the Tuesday when the plan dies and you still say "don't go" I checked the date twice, shook the magnet, blamed the wall Anything but blame the fact I want you through it all The calendar flipped early. It did not flip my soul [Verse 4 - Male country] I drove the long way just to make the morning last Passed the schoolyard, passed the church, passed the summer in the grass turned brown at the edges like a letter left too long You sent a picture of the calendar with a caption that was wrong on purpose, just to make me smile: "see, we still got time" I parked and sat and let that little lie feel like a climb I am a man who turns the heater on and keeps you in the seat If the year wants to rush us into gray They can rush. I am not giving this good thing away [Chorus - Both, bigger] The calendar flipped early caught us in the act of living like the summer had a clause we could retract All those empty squares we swore we'd fill with noise Now the month is moving faster than the two of us as choice The calendar flipped early so I flipped it back in vain Paper does not listen when you whisper someone's name If the year won't wait politely we can meet it standing tall The calendar flipped early we can still have it all [Bridge - Both, stacked] [Female] I hate a countdown I hate a closing window I hate the way a date can make a sure thing feel thin, though [Male] I hate a sudden frost I hate a shortened light I do not hate the way you looked at me tonight [Both] So let the paper win the wall We do not live on paper We live in the kitchen in the truck in the later [Verse 5 - Trade] [Female] Say we are not a season [Male] We are not a season [Female] Say the page can keep its reason [Male] The page can keep its reason [Female] Say you saw it too when the magnet lost its grip [Male] I saw you, not the month, and I will not lose my grip [Final Chorus - Both, loudest] The calendar flipped early caught us in the act of living like the summer had a clause we could retract All those empty squares we swore we'd fill with noise Now the month is moving faster than the two of us as choice The calendar flipped early so I flipped it back in vain Paper does not listen when you whisper someone's name If the year won't wait politely we can meet it standing tall The calendar flipped early we can still have it all [Outro - Female then Male then Both] [Female] Flip it back it will not stay [Male] Leave it up we will anyway [Both] The calendar flipped early we did not flip away