First Ember

[Verse 1] You found me where the cold had settled in A single spark against my paper skin I was sixteen, all hallway, smoke, and dark You touched the hollow and it answered like a spark One taste, one flicker, and the night leaned back The whole room softened at the edges of the black I didn’t know a fire could feel like peace I only knew for once the shaking eased [Pre-Chorus] I mistook the burning for a place to land Called the heat a shelter, offered it my hand [Chorus] First ember, light me slow Turn the freezing into something I could hold First ember, burn me bright Make the empty feel like it belongs tonight I didn’t know, I only knew You felt like home when home was gone from view [Verse 2] We moved through rooms with windows painted black Laughing like there was no turning back You made the static sound like strings and gold Made every wound look younger than it was And every morning when the glow thinned out I chased your outline like a second mouth You whispered stay while something in me bent And the boy I was kept vanishing in smoke [Pre-Chorus] I mistook the burning for a place to land Called the heat a shelter, offered it my hand [Chorus] First ember, light me slow Turn the freezing into something I could hold First ember, burn me bright Make the empty feel like it belongs tonight I didn’t know, I only knew You felt like home when home was gone from view [Bridge] And I called you courage Called you a sign Called you the first warm thing That ever stayed the night While the ember kept glowing Low in the wire Like it had always known My name in the dark [Final Chorus] First ember, hold me still You looked like mercy, you moved like will First ember, I wore your light Like borrowed heaven in a flooding night And for a while You made the dark feel like it was mine [Outro] First ember… Thank you for the light Even if it burned I’m still learning What stays after the flame