Track Insight / Lyrics
The coffee's hot, the closing light is gold
The silver keys rattle soft against the till
I set them by the register, just so
Like they still know where they're meant to go
At one fifteen grease begins to pop
Marge reads the weather through the front-door glass
While regulars shuffle in the cold, en masse
The griddle says hurry, so I never stop
At two o'clock rain needles the glass
Old Pete leaves syrup by the chalk line
The pancake batter settles into cold sighs
I mop the white streak by closing time
Three in the morning, the bread truck is gone
The sky turns milk-white just before the dawn
I whip the cream until the copper spins
The night cook hums jazz with a wooden spoon
These keys, these keys won't open one door
No county lock trusts their teeth anymore
They tap like old friends on the café floor
But silence answers like it did before
A silver key sleeps in my apron by the fryer
I turn it once, but the hallway clock lies
A chipped mug rattles when the delivery arrives
And still no lock beneath the table turns
At closing count, the keys jingle off the line
They catch the first daylight turning gold
I lock the front door, but no key is mine
The whole café keeps a little less cold
I kept them for a door I never built
I kept them for a promise left unpaid
The lock I saved is rusting in the frame
The name I saved got lost in morning rain
Now flour dusts my sleeves beneath the steam
And strangers leave a little light in me
These keys, these keys can rattle once more
No county lock trusts their teeth anymore
They tap like old friends on the café floor
But silence answers like it did before
These keys, these keys don't open one door
No spare brass tooth can turn the lock anymore
They warm my hand where all the lost keys go
And morning finds me letting one go
The coffee's cold, the daylight's turning gold
The silver keys rest quiet by the till
I set them by the register, just so
Then carry one new key across the door
