Dissolved Into Light

Lyrics

[Intro]
The pavement is a long, slow mirror.
I am walking toward myself, walking away.
The lampposts are pages torn from a book I almost remember.

[Verse 1]
The first one has your face, but it's not you.
A stranger's coat, a familiar gait.
He turns as I pass, and the architecture resolves.
Suddenly, it is you, exactly as I filed you away.
The scar above your lip.
My feet want to run. They have forgotten how to be still.

[Chorus]
But I don't run this time.
I stop. I turn. I say your name like a password.
You smile, a perfect photograph.
And dissolve into a soft static of golden light.
Just a warm space where you stood.
Another ghost, greeted and gone.

[Verse 2]
The next is my dead grandmother, her hands are made of silver filigree.
Then a long-dead friend, his apology written on the air between us.
I rub my palms together, the old check.
But my hands stay dark. The pavement glows instead.
The cracks rearrange into your initials, over and over.

[Chorus]
And I don't run this time.
I stop. I turn. I say each name like a key.
They smile, a flashbulb memory.
And dissolve into a soft hum of amber light.
Just a warm silence where they stood.
The whole street, a library of goodbyes.

[Bridge]
The procession is a corridor with no end.
A reflection of a reflection.
I see myself walking toward me, a version from ten years ago.
She raises a hand.
Her eyes ask a question I can't answer.
Am I the ghost she is dreaming of?

[Outro]
The last one has my father's eyes.
He doesn't smile, just nods.
I nod back.
The light he becomes is quiet, like morning through a dusty window.
The silver street is empty now.
Just the reflections of lampposts.
And me, or my reflection.
Still walking.