Joe

Verse 1

We met where the noise went thin

Under lights that hummed like a hymn

I had my words in a careful chain

You had that look like you knew my name

I laughed it off, I looked away

You stepped closer like you knew I'd stay

I said "I'm fine," but I lied too clean

There was more in the pause between

Verse 2

I've seen that kind of space before

A hand on the latch, a foot on the door

People talk low when they are afraid

Or when they have told what can't be said

So I didn't rush, I didn't force

I just asked one question and watched the course

You shook a bit, then stood your ground

Like part of you wanted to be found

Chorus

And the night went quiet, then loud, then slow

Like a line we crossed we didn't know

Was it fear, was it rule, was it just that way

Was it "don't go there" or "please just stay"?

Verse 3

I took a breath and dropped one guard

Not all at once, just a little, hard

You smiled like you've already seen that crack

Like you knew exactly where to attack

I said the thing I'd never say

Then laughed like I could just joke it away

You didn't laugh, you just held my gaze

Like you'd been waiting for a better phrase

Verse 4

So I pushed soft, like pulling thread

Not to tear the cloth, just to see what's said

You gave me more I expected to get

A half-spoken truth, a nervous sweat

And I saw then, in the way you stood

It wasn't just fear, and it wasn't just good

There was a spark in the words we chose

Like one wrong breath and the whole thing blows

Bridge

We didn't fall

We didn't run

We just stood there

In the undone

Final Chorus

And the night went quiet, then loud, then slow

Like a line we crossed but we didn't know

Was it fear, was it rule, was it just that way

Was it "don't go there" or "please just stay"?

So we stood like smoke in a locked-up room

Two ghosts with a pulse and a borrowed doom

No hands on the knife, no saints in sight

Just two bad truths in the half-lit night

We never said yes, we never said no

Just watched that dark little hunger grow

Then the light cut out, and the room went cold

And whatever we were, it couldn’t be told