Neuronchaser. The House We Never Finished...

We framed the walls in late July
Bare studs, dust on your black jeans
You drew windows in the plywood sky
Said, “This is where we’ll hang our dreams”

Coffee on the hood of your old car
Paint chips under your fingernails
You laughed, “We’re gonna live so far”
From every small-town ghost that failed

The house we never finished
Still standing in my mind
Half roof, half promise
Blue tape on the power lines
Every room we never painted
Every fight we never had
The house we never finished
Is the best and worst we planned

Your mother mailed that silver key
To a door we never hung
We kept it in a kitchen drawer
Beside receipts and bubble gum

You circled tiles in a catalog
Argued oak vs. cherry stain
Meanwhile, cracks in our calendar
Let in worry, work, and rain

The house we never finished
Still standing in my mind
Half roof... half promise...
Blue tape on the power lines
Every room we never painted
Every fight we never had
The house we never finished
Is the best... and worst we planned...

Drive by the lot some days (oh...)
There’s a mailbox with a stranger’s name
Their curtains glow where your sketches used to be
Guess someone else built what we meant
But I still park there in my head
Walk through sawdust halls you left for me

The house we never finished
Still standing in my mind
Half roof, half promise
Blue tape on the power lines
Every word we left unspoken
Every break we never planned
The house we never finished
Is where... I almost learned to stand...