Dissonance

The saints are sleeping in the gutter tonight

With rosaries wrapped ‘round their throats

You said, “Baby, everything’s gonna be alright”

But your voice shook like broken notes

I learned to pray with my teeth clenched tight

Through static and sirens and screams

If heaven’s a lie, then hell’s got better lighting

At least it looks like you and me

We’re screaming in different keys

Still calling it harmony

Your hand slips out of mine

Like you planned the timing

This is dissonance

Love out of tune

A requiem sung by a runaway youth

You say my name like it’s evidence

I say goodbye like a loaded truth

We tried to make sense of the violence

But hearts don’t listen—they just break

So turn it up till it hurts again

This is dissonance

And it’s the loudest sound we make

I carved your initials into my ribs

So I’d feel you when I breathe

Every kiss felt like a final hit

Every promise a felony

They said, “Son, you can’t save everyone”

But I tried to save you anyway

Now the crowd sings along to my funeral song

Like they knew I wouldn’t stay

We’re bleeding in stereo

Calling it radio

You tuned me out so clean

Like a dying frequency

This is dissonance

Love out of tune

A siren song for the broken and bruised

You swear this pain is accidental

I swear it knows my name too

We tried to outrun the silence

But it followed us home again

So strike the chord and let it bend

This is dissonance

Let it tear us open

If love’s a song, then we never rehearsed

Just screamed till the speakers burst

You wanted quiet—I wanted the truth

So we burned it all down in the booth

(Shout)

Count me out!

Count me dead!

Every word you said

Still rings in my head

This is dissonance

No resolve

Just broken chords and bathroom stalls

You held my heart like an instrument

Then smashed it against the wall

If this is how the anthem ends

No encore, no curtain call

Just feedback screaming “this is it”

This is dissonance

And I felt it all

So play it wrong

Play it loud

Let it haunt you when the lights go down

If love’s a war, then we made our sound

In dissonance