[Verse 1] August should have burned the rafters August should have cooked the paint Instead the kitchen held its breath And the hallway learned restraint I kept the windows open wider I kept the fan on through the night Still the floorboards felt like winter Still the tap ran wrong and white People said the season broke me People said I needed air They had not put their hand upon The banister and felt him there [Pre-Chorus] It did not wait for falling leaves It did not wait for darker days The cold came early, like a debt That never learned to wait to pay [Chorus] The house went cold in August Long before the road got black The house went cold in August And it never gave him back I lit every lamp I owned I wore his coat to go to bed The house went cold in August And October only said what I already had [Verse 2] I found his coffee cup still ringing Like a note that would not die I found the dent inside the mattress Shaped exactly like a lie I talked out loud to keep the rooms From filling up with quiet work I named the groceries. I named the mail I named the shadow in the nook When September tried to soften With a fair and a cheap parade I stayed inside and counted drafts Moving through the place he stayed [Pre-Chorus] It did not knock. It did not ask It did not need a holiday The cold came on like honesty And took the summer out from under me [Chorus] The house went cold in August Long before the road got black The house went cold in August And it never gave him back I lit every lamp I owned I wore his coat to go to bed The house went cold in August And October only said what I already had [Verse 3] On the thirty-first I finally walked The mile they built to hide the cost I thought the corpse road might explain it Why a living house could frost The trees were kind in their own way They did not offer me a speech They only stood there like old witnesses Who already knew the breach At the far gate I said his name Once, and only to the dirt Then I turned back toward the rooms That had been winter since the hurt [Bridge] This is not a haunted story Told to children for a thrill This is a thermostat that failed On a man I loved, and love him still No costume No crowd No joke about the dead Just a key in my own lock And a season that misread [Breakdown] August August Too soon August August Every room Heat outside Ice within That is how The year begins [Verse 4] Now the neighbors hang their lanterns Now they praise the early dark They do not know my Halloween Started in the dog-day heart I set a plate I do not touch I leave his chair the way it sat I let the house stay slightly wrong Because the wrongness is the fact If you come by selling comfort Keep your ribbon and your pie A cold house is not a puzzle It is a mouth that will not lie [Chorus] The house went cold in August Long before the road got black The house went cold in August And it never gave him back I lit every lamp I owned I wore his coat to go to bed The house went cold in August And October only said what I already had [Final Chorus] The house went cold in August I still sleep along that fault The house went cold in August Grief arrived without a vault If you meet me on the dead mile Do not tell me time will mend My autumn started in the heat And it does not know how to end [Outro] Fan still turning Rooms still old Summer weather House still cold
