Blue Ink and Steam

[Intro]
[Verse]
Neon blurs in the glass
Watch the city lights pass
Rain is tapping a beat
On the F-minor street
Diner clock ticks slow
Nowhere else to go
Rhodes notes start to glow
In the soft indigo
[Pre-Chorus]
I saw you sitting there
With a quiet, heavy air
You didn't say a word
But your silence was heard
[Chorus]
Crumpled lines on the tray
Everything you didn't say
Blue ink and the steam
Like a half-forgotten dream
Chipped ceramic and grace
In this hollow, late-night place
A little spark of the new
Found in a note from you
[Post-Chorus]
(Doo-ba-dee, doo-dah)
Just a gentle swing
(Shoo-be-doo, ba-dah)
Hear the vibraphone ring
[Verse]
Brushes sweep on the snare
Smoke hangs thick in the air
I smoothed out the page
From a different age
The sax starts to wind
Through the thoughts in my mind
Walking bass finds the groove
Waiting for a heart to move
[Hook]
It’s a quiet hope
At the end of the rope
Just a stranger's rhyme
Stopping all of time
[Chorus]
Crumpled lines on the tray
Everything you didn't say
Blue ink and the steam
Like a half-forgotten dream
Chipped ceramic and grace
In this hollow, late-night place
A little spark of the new
Found in a note from you
[Bridge]
Was it fate or just luck?
In the way that we struck
A match in the dark
A faint, quiet spark
Hope is a heavy thing
Until the shadows sing
[Solo]
[Instrumental]
[Verse]
I’ll keep the poem tucked tight
Through the rest of the night
Maybe you’ll come back
On the midnight track
Or maybe the verse is enough
When the edges get rough
I’m sipping my tea
Feeling finally free
[Chorus]
Crumpled lines on the tray
Everything you didn't say
Blue ink and the steam
Like a half-forgotten dream
Chipped ceramic and grace
In this hollow, late-night place
A little spark of the new
Found in a note from you
[Post-Chorus]
(Doo-ba-dee, doo-dah)
Just a gentle swing
(Shoo-be-doo, ba-dah)
Hear the vibraphone ring
[Outro]