[Intro]
Hushed clock hands, slow and faithful, counting the minutes I’ve learned to tolerate.
[Verse 1]
Morning coffee, same blue mug, same window with the same old weather.
I used to chase storms of possible futures, now I chase a predictable tether.
The plan I drafted in the margins of a notebook’s sighs
has settled into a chair that creaks with every compromise.
[Pre-Chorus]
I tell myself it’s fine, that calm is a kind of win,
but the wind outside the blinds remembers a grimmer spin.
[Chorus]
This quiet dread, I cradle it like a stray we once knew,
Dreams soft-painting dawns I’ll never come back to.
I’ve learned to smile as the colors drain to gray,
And pretend the map I chose is still okay.
[Verse 2]
Friends post their risings, their bright new doors, their neon-small thrills,
Meanwhile my days align in neat, unruffled hills.
I named the fear as a guest, then invited it to stay,
And now it helps me lift each load I carry day by day.
[Pre-Chorus]
I whisper “settle,” and the echo nods with weary grace,
A path of quiet miles that never finds its blaze.
[Chorus]
This quiet dread, I cradle it like a stray we once knew,
Dreams soft-painting dawns I’ll never come back to.
I’ve learned to smile as the colors drain to gray,
And pretend the map I chose is still okay.
[Bridge]
If the dream starts whispering again, I’ll listen slow,
Count the breaths between the “could” and “now.”
But the hands keep turning, the seasons fold and turn,
And I learn to live with what I’ve learned to earn.
[Chorus]
This quiet dread, I cradle it like a stray we once knew,
Dreams soft-painting dawns I’ll never come back to.
I’ve learned to smile as the colors drain to gray,
And pretend the map I chose is still okay.
[Outro]
So here I am, fate folded neat like a letter never sent,
Quietly brave in the ordinary, where the restless dreams went.
