Only Music Now

One piano chord hanging in the smoke
Coat check has my jacket
The night has everything else
Her song comes on by accident
DJ, wait — don't change it
Play am again
Maybe one day it will be only music now

Quarter to two and the floor still full
I was fine till that first chord pulled
Her perfume from a room three months gone
Now I stand still while the whole club moves on
Three hundred people, one empty shape
Lime in my glass gone warm and flat
Her name still pinned near the top of my phone
I should delete it; I turn the screen black
The log drum knocks where I hold my breath
I walk to the booth with one request

If a song ever found what you tried to hide
Lift one phone light, leave the rest inside
I won't go home till the last drum dies
DJ, look me in the eyes

DJ, play am again
Let that first piano find me again
If I can stand when the first chord comes down
Maybe one day it'll be only music now

Again, again
Play am
One more turn around that sound
Not yet, not yet
But one day — only music now

Third Friday, same corner, same blue stool
Barman drops ice: Same one? Same tune
First week I ran before the hook
Second week I hummed but never looked
Tonight I dance through the verse she loved
No ghost beside me, just scuffed-up shoes
Her name has moved from the top of my phone
Not deleted yet, but lower down
I make it through the chord that used to wreck me
The sharp edge is wearing thin

If a song ever found what you tried to hide
Lift one phone light, let the whole room shine
I won't go home till the last drum dies
DJ, look me in the eyes

DJ, play am again
Same first piano, find me again
I stayed on my feet when the first chord came down
Tonight it's almost only music now

Corner booth: She kept the dog
Play am again
Girl by the rail: He moved up north
Play am again
Man by the speaker: Mine got married in May
Whole floor: wear the sharp edge away

Girl, wherever you are, here is the truth
I don't want you back — I want my pulse
The man who heard this song before we met
The one who didn't brace before the opening note
I keep returning to the place the pain began
To teach my body what my mind already knows
A chord is wood and wire, not a wound
A memory can sit down without taking the wheel
One Friday soon that piano will open
And nothing but the tune will walk through

DJ, play am again
Same first piano — it doesn't own me
No more hiding in the smoke machine
The song can stay; I can let her leave
Only music now
Only music now

Three-eighteen, the house lights rise
Coat check gives my jacket back
First taxis stripe the rain outside
That piano follows through the closing door
For the first time, it is only music now