What Makes You Tick

(Verse 1)

You tuck your secrets in the seams of every coat you wear

You keep your laughter folded like a map you never share

You move through rooms like you’ve forgotten how to stay

But there’s a spark under the collar that won’t look away

(Pre-Chorus)

When you fix a crooked tie or stare at an old postcard

Your fingers find the grammar of the small and the marred

(Chorus)

What makes you tick, tell me the clock beneath your chest

Is it the quiet promise or the hymn you hide from rest

Are you a firework, scheduled to explode at midnight’s cue

Or a compass pointing home when the world forgets you

What makes you tick, lay down the pieces one by one

I’ll hold the scattered starlight until you learn to run

(Verse 2)

You hum the songs you shouldn’t know in trembling, silver tones

Plant little flags inside your pockets for the places you’ll never own

You barter honesty for safety, wear bravery like borrowed shoes

And keep a diary of small rebellions inked in yesterday’s news

(Pre-Chorus)

When you whisper to the mirror, telling truths that sound like dare

I watch the way your shadow practices becoming air

(Chorus)

What makes you tick, tell me the clock beneath your chest

Is it a stubborn moon that wants to keep you from the rest

Are you a pocket watch that hides a photograph of youth

Or a lighthouse, steady, keeping someone’s reckless truth

What makes you tick, peel back the copper and the rust

There’s a pulse beneath the machinery that needs to trust

(Bridge)

Tick-tock, the chorus of the good and the bitter

Tick-tock, a lullaby for the brave and the quitter

Some count their lives in victories, some in the small delights

Some keep time by holding on; some keep time by flight

(Breakdown)

Sing softer now, let the screws breathing rhythm slow

Name the thing you feared you'd lose and then we’ll let it go

(Chorus)

What makes you tick, tell me the clock beneath your chest

Is it the reckless morning or the hush before the test

Are you a pocketful of wishes, trembling ready to unspool

Or a steady metronome that learned to love the fool

What makes you tick, take all your doubts and hand them in

I’ll teach your quiet heartbeat how to march and how to spin

(Reprise / Tag)

What makes you tick, oh tell me what you keep inside

A compass, a confetti, a secret, a tide

Tick-tock, come live by that sound tonight

Tick-tock, I promise we’ll be all right