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Spoken version
A recorded reading of “The House Wakes Up”. If the player does not load, use the original audio source.
Rain has been working the window all night, fine taps with nowhere else to go. I come in with dust on my shoes, Monday folded under my tongue, a bag half-packed beside the doorway, keys beside the bread. The kettle clicks. Then it holds its small note. You pull the blind open. Sunlight crosses the cracked tile without asking either of us to explain the week. You do not say stay. You put the kettle back on. The word arrives in the space between the cup and your hand. Outside, buses shoulder past, their wet lights dragged along the glass. Inside, your thumb keeps time against the table. The room does not become new. The chair keeps its torn seam. Rain keeps working the window. By the doorway, my bag stays where it is. The cracked tile takes the light. The house makes room.
Lyrics
The house wakes up When the kettle sings Rain on the window Dust on my shoes Kettle on the back stove Clicks into a tune You pull the blind open Sun finds the floor I was carrying Monday You set it by the door No big speech between us No promise to defend Your shoulder leans beside me And the week begins to bend The house wakes up When the kettle sings Keep your hand in mine Hear the whole room ring Bag half-packed by the doorway Keys beside the bread You put the kettle back on "Stay" is all you said Outside, the buses shoulder past Late light fills the hall I came here to disappear Now I can hear it all No perfect answer No road laid out ahead Your thumb taps on the table And the fear leaves my chest The house wakes up When the kettle sings Keep your hand in mine Hear the whole room ring Maybe love is small enough To fit inside this room A cup, a chair, an open blind And one more afternoon The house wakes up When the kettle sings Keep your hand in mine Hear the whole room ring The house wakes up Even after rain Keep your hand in mine I set my bag down The house wakes up The house wakes up Rain on the window Kettle in the room
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