King of Cups

Lyrics

It's pouring.

The microwave clock flashes 02:18
I'm pacing the kitchen, tearing the seam
Spilling my panic all over the floor
While the rain tries to batter the patio door
And you’re just sitting at the granite island
Heavy and gray as a monument stone
Letting me thrash in the deep end alone
But making sure I don't go under.
You've got that look like you've seen this before.

You hold the cup, but you don't spill a drop
You let the wind howl, you don't ask it to stop
A glass in your left hand, a spoon in your right
Watching my little ship ride out the night
You don't build a dam, you don't drain out the sea
You just sit in the center and listen to me.

I knock off a coaster, it flips like a fish
Jumping the current, a desperate wish
My brain wants a pattern in the water I spilled
But you know a feeling doesn't have to be killed
Just to make a room safe.
You nod and you sip from the rim of the glass
Waiting for the worst of the weather to pass
Not bracing for impact, just breathing.
A quiet authority holding the space.

You hold the cup, but you don't spill a drop
You let the wind howl, you don't ask it to stop
A glass in your left hand, a spoon in your right
Watching my little ship ride out the night
You don't build a dam, you don't drain out the sea
You just sit in the center and listen to me.

Other men run when the water gets high
Or they try to fix it, try to make it run dry
They hand you a towel, they tally mistakes
They panic the second the levee breaks
But your kindness is quiet, it carries a weight
It says, go ahead, flood. I'm willing to wait.
The tide always turns in the end.

So I sit down beside you, exhausted and cold
The swell starts to settle, the story gets told
You push the glass toward me, steady and slow
The water is dark...
But we float.
Yeah, we float.
Just ride out the swell.