Second Alarm

Second alarm, second alarm
(I'm already up)

Phone face up on the cold bedroom floor
Two little alarms and a ceiling I know
Four forty-five and the street is blue
Kettle hasn't boiled, the radio's not on
Boots by the door like two soldiers asleep
The bus is a rumour, the sky is a yawn
First one wakes the body
Second one wakes the dream
I'm already up before it sings
Nobody saw me pour the cream
Lunch in a paper bag, a note in the pocket
A song in the shower I'm scared to record
The landlord's clock says the rent is a rocket
My dream is a window that won't stay shut

I've got ten minutes and a pencil

Second alarm, second alarm
(I'm already up)
First wakes the body, second wakes the dream
Second alarm, second alarm
(I'm already up)
I'm already up and I'm already me
(I'm already up)

Hey, hey, I'm up
(I'm up)
Hey, hey, I'm up
(wide awake)
Hey, hey, I'm up
(before the sun)

Same four forty-five, a different year
Same boots, same bus, a little less fear
The landlord knocks, the dream knocks louder
I answer the louder one first, every year
Years of Mondays folded in a drawer
The shift got longer and the pencil got short
Every morning a coin I put in the jar
Every dollar a letter in a name on a door
Some days the dream is a small hot flame
Some days it's a match in the rain
But I turn the first one off like a friend
And I wait for the second to ring again
A thousand mornings and the coffee gets cold
A thousand mornings and I'm not getting old
I'm getting ready, there's a difference, see
Ready is a muscle and it's growing in me

Tick, tick, tick, tick
Tick, tick, tick, tick
I've got ten minutes and a pencil
Tick, tick, tick, tick

Second alarm, second alarm
(I'm already up)
First wakes the body, second wakes the dream
Second alarm, second alarm
(I'm already up)
I'm already up and I'm already me
(I'm already up)

Hey, hey, I'm up
(I'm up)
Hey, hey, I'm up
(wide awake)
Hey, hey, I'm up
(before the sun)

Tonight I set only one
The second one I'm tearing off the wall
Dawn is a better alarm than anything I own
It never needs a battery at all
Tick, tick
The cheap plastic clock can retire in the drawer
The sky has been waiting all along at the door
Let it come
Let it come

Second alarm, second alarm
(I'm already up)
First wakes the body, the sun wakes the dream
Second alarm, second alarm
(I'm already up)
Dawn's on the wall and the dream is mine
(I'm already up, I'm already up)

Hey, hey, I'm up
(I'm up)
Hey, hey, I'm up
(wide awake)
Hey, hey, I'm up
(before the sun)

Second alarm
(I'm up)
Hey, hey, I'm up
(wide awake)
Hey, hey, I'm up
(before the sun)