I Keep My Demons Close

Intro

Midnight takes a breath, I let it in (oh)

They slide through the door like old friends, yeah

(ha-hey, ha-hey)

Verse

They taste like sugar and tobacco on the tongue

They learn my secrets when the lights go wrong

They laugh like weather, they wear my name

They sit on every quiet part I can't explain

Paper-cut promises, velvet and rust

They fold my letters, kiss away my trust

I light a match, they gather round the flame

Say, "We know your fault, we know your flame"

Pre-chorus

I count the ways they map my sleep, (map my sleep)

They sing before I speak, (oh)

I trade my calm for the thrill of the leak

Chorus

I keep my demons close, close, close (close)

I keep my demons close, close, close (yeah)

They teach me how to bend, not break

I keep my demons close, close, close

I keep my demons close, close, close (oh-oh)

They soften all the edges of the ache

I keep my demons close, close, close

Verse

They wear my silhouette like a second skin

They know the crooked places where I begin

Call them midnight architects, they redraw the plan

They take my ordinary and rebrand the man

I hear them humming through the porcelain and glass

Counting harvests from the years that I let pass

Sometimes they push me, sometimes they hold me down

Sometimes they lift me up and spin me round

Pre-chorus

There’s a quiet treaty written in my scars, (in my scars)

They keep the map, I keep the car, (yeah)

We drive toward the edge but we never fall too far

Chorus

I keep my demons close, close, close (close)

I keep my demons close, close, close (uh-huh)

They teach me how to bend, not break

I keep my demons close, close, close

I keep my demons close, close, close (la-la)

They soften all the edges of the ache

I keep my demons close, close, close

Bridge

Maybe they're the language I forgot to speak (speak)

Maybe they're the heat when everything is cheap (heat)

I say their names like prayer or like a dare

I walk the wire and they're the only ones who care

Yeah, yeah, oh-oh

(ta-ta-touch, ki-ki-keep)

Chorus

I keep my demons close, close, close (close)

I keep my demons close, close, close (close)

They teach me how to bend, not break

I keep my demons close, close, close

I keep my demons close, close, close (oh)

They soften all the edges of the ache

I keep my demons close, close, close