You thought the chair made you taller Thought the title made you see Funny thing about watching people Sometimes they watch you back You study pauses, study faces Put a name on every frame Measure every little movement Like the label makes it tame You thought silence meant confusion Thought restraint meant I was lost While you counted every symptom I was calculating cost I watched the way you watched me Watched the little changes come You were listening for confession I was learning where you're from Not the city, not the history Not the stories people claim I mean underneath the language Underneath the practiced name You move one checker I see the whole board You wait for the answer I already know what you're looking for I read the game Before you knew there was one You watched the move I watched what made you run You thought you were reading me You were the thing revealed You had the language for the wound I watched the way you made it feel I didn't have to make you smaller I just let the stronger things arrive Didn't have to erase your picture You disappeared while still in sight I read the game I read the game You had vocabulary I had the pattern You had the title I had the eye You had a word for every feeling But couldn't read the reason why You knew how to name reaction Knew the textbook, knew the line But knowing what a thing is called Ain't the same as reading mine You thought attention made you central Thought the room would bend your way Then stronger faces filled the picture Without needing much to say No attack No grand removal No dramatic little scene You stayed exactly where you were While everything around you gained I didn't push you downward I just stopped told em you were high Funny how the room gets honest When the stronger things arrive I read the game Before you knew there was one You watched the move I watched what made you run You thought you were reading me You were the thing revealed You had the language for the wound I watched the way you made it feel I didn't have to make you smaller I just let the stronger things arrive Didn't have to erase your picture You disappeared while still in sight I read the game I read the game Funny how I forgot you were there Till you interrupted the frame Not remembered for your presence Only for the break you bring I didn't forget the picture I forgot you were in it You don't lose space You lose weight That's the difference A thing can still be sitting there And somehow matter less You thought you were the centerpiece Turns out you were the break A little pause between the beauty A little noise the eye would take I was enjoying the picture Everything was moving clean Then something broke the rhythm And I remembered where you'd been Not because I missed you Not because your absence hurt You simply caught the eye Like a mark across a clean white shirt Row by row The room kept changing Nothing cruel Nothing staged You stayed exactly where you were While everything around you gained You were looking for pathology I was looking at proportion You were naming every reaction I was watching the distortion You thought distance meant avoidance Thought silence meant defeat Sometimes silence is somebody Who already read the sheet You thought the chair made you taller Thought the title made you wise But a title only tells me What you learned to recognize It doesn't tell me what you notice When the textbook disappears It doesn't tell me if you understand What's underneath the words you hear You had the vocabulary I had the pattern You had the title I had the eye You had the question ready I watched the reason why You moved one checker I watched the whole board You thought you were reading me You were the thing revealed I read the game Before you knew there was one You watched the move I watched what made you run You thought you were reading me You were the thing revealed You kept looking for a weakness I watched what you couldn't conceal I didn't have to call you weak I just put strength beside you I didn't have to expose a thing I just stopped standing there to hide you I didn't have to make you smaller I just let the stronger things arrive And when they did You didn't disappear You just stopped looking large No argument No scene No need to say your name You watched one move I watched the whole game You moved one checker I watched the whole board You thought you were reading me You were the thing revealed Santi Flores
