Two Lives

[Verse 1 — baritone, ticking guitar]
There's a picture of me walking
Through a house of amber flame
Hands relaxed beside my body
Like the smoke has learned my name
Every room holds someone's laughter
Every wall was built with love
But the floors beneath my footsteps
Are giving way, inch by inch

[Pre-Chorus — rising bass]
They helped me build this place
I can't bear to watch them grieve
So I smile inside the burning
And forget that I can leave

[Chorus — soaring, syncopated]
Let it burn, let it burn
Something's turning into ash
Is it everything we've made
Or the future I can't have?
I could kick the door wide open
Draw a new life in the sky
But I stand here in the fire
Keeping everybody dry
(Everybody but me)

[Verse 2 — chopped vocals]
Every morning brings a blueprint
For a life without these walls
Every night I fold it smaller
When I hear the people call
I don't hate the hands that held me
I just miss the hands I had

[Bridge — half-time, whispered]
One day I'll strike the match—or stay
And let my unbuilt world decay
There's no smoke without a loss
No road that doesn't have a cost

[Final Chorus — layered harmonies]
Let it burn, let it burn
I'm so calm it almost hurts
One life flickers in the hallway
One is buried in the earth
As the ceiling paints the sunset
I don't move, I don't run
I just watch and wonder softly
Which of my two lives is done

[Outro — fading harmony]
(One burns down / one burns down)
I stand where both the shadows meet