Jiffy

Lyrics

[Intro]
Fluorescents buzzing in the early dark

[Verse 1]
She keeps her thumb on the porcelain rim
Pouring black coffee from a silver-plated tin
She says she’ll get the sugar in a jiffy, hon
And turns away before the sentence is done
It’s a comfortable promise, loose and warm
A little piece of time with no edges and no form
But I take it in my pocket out into the snow
Down to the basement where the heavy machines glow

[Chorus]
We couldn't just leave it on the linoleum floor
We needed a title for the light crossing the board
We took a word that meant a casual soon
And pinned it to the table in a sterile room
We weighed the absolute shortest breath of a spark
And stole a waitress’s joke to name the dark

[Verse 2]
A smear of yellow chalk on the olive-green slate
We are trying to map how the particles break
It happens so fast the retina holds the flash
Before the optic nerve can even sort the math
We can’t call it an instant, an instant is too grand
For a gap you couldn't catch with an open hand
So we borrow the slang from the street up above
And force it to fit like a heavy lead glove

[Chorus]
We couldn't just leave it on the linoleum floor
We needed a title for the light crossing the board
We took a word that meant a casual soon
And pinned it to the table in a sterile room
We weighed the absolute shortest breath of a spark
And stole a waitress’s joke to name the dark

[Bridge]
It’s an act of affection, making it exact
Taking a neighborhood phrase and making it fact
But nobody can keep a promise moving at this pace
We took the human waiting completely out of the space
If you tell me you'll be back in that fraction of a beat
You’re a liar, or you're light, or you’re a ghost on the street

[Outro]
She comes back with the sugar packets in her fist
Unaware of what the mathematics just dismissed
She says, sorry for the wait
I say, it was exactly what it had to be