Vellum and Vapor

[Intro]
[Verse]
Green stems on a wooden seat
Train whistles bitingly sweet
Ticket stub with a frayed edge
Tucked inside a vellum hedge
I trace the veins with care
Breathing in the heavy air
My ink is a permanent stain
Like the rhythm of the rain
[Pre-Chorus]
Petioles bending to the light
Taxonomy keeping me upright
I label the genus with care
Knowing you were sitting there
Shadows cross the station wall
I'm waiting for the summer fall
[Chorus]
Pressing down on the memory
Of a stranger’s soft geometry
Clover leaves and a ticket line
In a world that feels divine
Watercolor smudges on the page
Locking my heart in a cage
It’s a tiny spark in the dust
A quiet botanical trust
[Post-Chorus]
Trifolium in the light
Holding on so very tight
Just a specimen of grace
In this lonely, quiet place
[Verse]
My field notes are a mess
A scholarly kind of distress
Trifolium repens, white and small
I didn't mean to trip and fall
Scribbled thoughts in the margin wide
Nowhere left for me to hide
You read your book so still
Against my own fluttering will
[Pre-Chorus]
Classification is my only shield
To the secrets that I yield
I map the roots and the seeds
To satisfy my quiet needs
Watching the landscape blur by
Under a pale Lydian sky
[Chorus]
Pressing down on the memory
Of a stranger’s soft geometry
Clover leaves and a ticket line
In a world that feels divine
Watercolor smudges on the page
Locking my heart in a cage
It’s a tiny spark in the dust
A quiet botanical trust
[Bridge]
(Half-spoken)
One leaf for the morning dew
Two for the view of you
Three for the trifoliate truth
A perfect serrated edge
Measured to the millimeter
Held by a single fibrous stem
Just like that ticket stub
Number forty-seven
In the third carriage
[Solo]
[Chorus]
Pressing down on the memory
Of a stranger’s soft geometry
Clover leaves and a ticket line
In a world that feels divine
Watercolor smudges on the page
Locking my heart in a cage
It’s a tiny spark in the dust
A quiet botanical trust
[Post-Chorus]
Trifolium in the light
Holding on so very tight
Just a specimen of grace
In this lonely, quiet place
[Breakdown]
Dust motes dance in the sun
My solitary work is never done
You didn't even say a word
The loudest thing I ever heard
[Outro]