Room 309

I’m counting streetlights through a taxi window,

Your name still sitting on my tongue,

The city hums like it knows my secrets,

And I pretend I’m not undone.

You said, “Don’t come back here after midnight,”

But midnight’s all I ever knew,

I’ve got one hand on a borrowed jacket,

And the other reaching back for you.

I don’t know why I keep returning,

To the place where we fell apart,

There’s a keycard bent in my pocket,

And a storm inside my heart.

I’m going back to Room 309,

Where your perfume fought the wine,

Where we laughed like we were dangerous,

Then burned out before the sign.

And I know you won’t be waiting,

But I’m still crossing every line,

I’m going back to Room 309,

Like the ending might change this time.

The carpet’s red, the walls are watching,

The lift sounds tired and slow,

I rehearse a hundred apologies,

For a door that won’t even know.

You were all smoke, silk, and warning,

I was all teeth and bad ideas,

Now every mirror in this hallway,

Makes me look like all my fears.

I’m going back to Room 309,

Where your perfume fought the wine,

Where we laughed like we were dangerous,

Then burned out before the sign.

And I know you won’t be waiting,

But I’m still crossing every line,

I’m going back to Room 309,

Like the ending might change this time.

Maybe I loved the chase too loudly,

Maybe you loved the leaving more,

Maybe we were only honest,

When we were halfway out the door.

So let the night pull down the curtains,

Let the neon bruise the rain,

I’ll stand outside the room we ruined,

And call it love again.