Velvet Ropes

[Verse 1]
She slips away at dawn,
footsteps soft on the hardwood floor.
Bruises bloom like ink in water,
purple promises she can’t ignore.
Scrawls across the mirror in lipstick red:
Never again, never again.

[Pre-Chorus]
But dusk drips gold through the blinds,
his voice a crooked key in her mind.
Turns the lock she soldered herself—
click, open, welcome back to hell.

[Chorus]
It’s not the fist she craves,
it’s the sorry that tastes like lullabies.
Trauma bonds, velvet ropes,
soft enough to choke, strong enough to tie
her wrists to his pulse,
her heart to his lies.

[Verse 2]
She returns for the ghost
of the boy in the photograph frame.
Dopamine drips from his tongue,
make-up sex and make-believe games.
Each exit a rehearsal,
each return a relapse—
love’s just addiction in Sunday best.

[Bridge – spoken, barely sung, over trembling strings]
How many times do you leave
before the silence forgets your scream?

[Chorus – louder, cracked]
It’s not the fist she craves,
it’s the sorry that tastes like lullabies.
Trauma bonds, velvet ropes,
snap one, bleed two, still she tries
to untie her wrists from his pulse,
her heart from his—

[Final Chorus – stripped to voice + single guitar]
One morning the mirror cracks,
not from his hand, but hers.
Reflection finally says enough,
shards spell freedom in reverse.
Velvet ropes fall to the floor—
she steps over, walks out the door.

[Outro – whisper, fading]
Never again… never again…

Dark-indie folk, slow-burn, minor chord, heartbeat kickdrum, whispered harmonies swelling, cracked-voice crescendo, male