Sauti Yako Usiku

Sauti yako usiku (sauti yako)
Your voice at night

Three in the morning in Phoenix, the air-con hums low
The street outside is empty, the parking lot is numb
For you it is noon, you are walking to the shops
Ten kids in school shirts, the vendor selling mops
I lie here on the left side, the right side still made
Phone face up on the pillow, the screen a little fade
A siren far away, a neighbour's door
Somebody else's life going past the floor
Forty-one voice notes and one I have not played
I count them like the stairs in my mother's house
Each one a small step that I climb without a sound
The fridge is full of nothing and the bed is full of space
Your scarf is on the chair, still holding your face

Nakusikia, nakusikia
Ngiyakukhumbula, mpenzi

Sauti yako usiku
Sauti yako usiku
Nine hours, one river, you are the boat
Sauti yako usiku

You say hello, my love, the kettle has just clicked
The neighbour's dog was barking, and I think he's sick
Ordinary little things in a voice I know by heart
You counted every sparrow like it was a piece of art
I did not need a poem, I did not need a plan
Just the sound of you and everything you can
Forgot to say you love me, then you said it twice
Forgot to say you miss me, then you said it nice
A bus goes by behind you, a hawker calls the price
I close my eyes and I am standing in your street
The sun is on my shoulders and the dust is on my feet

Nakusikia, nakusikia
Ngiyakukhumbula, mpenzi
The screen is glowing blue, the room is cold and blue
I hold it like a hand

Sauti yako usiku
Sauti yako usiku
Nine hours, one river, you are the boat
Sauti yako usiku

Mm, usiku, usiku (mm)
Mm, mpenzi (mm)

(pluck synth carries the melody, chime lands on the one)

I have played it forty-one times
I can say it back to you in your rhythm
When my shift runs long, when the lot is cold
I press the little triangle with my thumb and I am home
Tutaonana, tutaonana, tutaonana
Say it, say it, say it again

Hello, my love, it is three, it is dark
I have played you forty-one, and now this is my mark
The kettle is cold, the parking lot is bare
But I heard your laugh and I felt you there
Sleep well when it is night where you are
Put your phone beside you on the pillow, too
I will count the hours like a bright small star
Ngiyakuthanda, nakupenda, I love you, goodnight

Sauti yako usiku
Sauti yako usiku
Nine hours, one river, I send the boat
Sauti yako usiku

Mm, usiku, usiku (mm)
Mm, mpenzi wangu (mm)
Mm, usiku, usiku (mm)
Mm, mpenzi wangu (mm)
Mm, tutaonana (mm)

Sauti yako... (mm)
Usiku... (mm)