Revolving Glass and Steam

Two ceramic rims are filling to the line
Dark roast rising in the morning shade
You watch the street turn through the circle frame
Counting every promise that we frayed

Ten long winters resting on the floor
Carried on the shoulders of the grey
I walk across the quiet carpet floor
With nothing left I know how to say

The carousel of glass keeps spinning slow
Letting in the chill from out of town
We hold the space that we both know
Before the heavy hammer settles down

Black coffee steaming in the quiet room
Watching you stare past revolving doors
Years of quiet standing in between
Keep all these simple words behind a smile

You take the warmth between two careful hands
Looking up with eyes I used to know
The distance isn't measured in the land
Just in how the river learned to flow

No heavy question hanging in the air
No ledger opened up to count the debt
Just morning light across an empty chair
And things we haven't learned to quite forget

Black coffee steaming in the quiet room
Watching you stare past revolving doors
Years of quiet standing in between
Keep all these simple words behind a smile

A nod can carry thirty thousand miles
A quiet breath can seal a broken track
We learn to rest within the faded files
Without the hunger for the journey back

The street outside begins to wake and moan
The traffic takes the corners one by one
We finish up before we walk alone
Underneath a pale and rising sun

Black coffee steaming in the quiet room
Watching you stare past revolving doors
Years of quiet standing in between
Keep all these simple words behind a smile