In The Reading Room

Verse

Rain on the glass of a one-light town,

Dust on the shelves and the lights burned out.

I walked in just to outrun my past,

Found a book with your name in the ash.

Your song in the floorboards, soft and low,

One ghost note only I could know.

I said, “I’m just here to disappear,”

You answered back,

“I’ve been waiting years.”

Pre-chorus

Now the ink runs black where your truth bled through,

Every page I turn just turns me back to you…

Chorus

In this haunted little bookshop,

Where the dead don’t stay gone,

You’re the fire in the rafters,

You’re the whisper in the song.

You were buried in the embers,

But your heart kept shining through,

I was broken when I met you,

Now my soul is burning too.

If love can cross the line between

The living and the tomb…

I’ll meet you where the echoes are,

Here in the reading room.

Verse

You write “NOT ACCIDENT” in spilled black ink,

A ledger of sins they won’t let me see.

You’re the boy they turned into a bedtime tale,

But I can feel the truth in every wail.

You play that tune from a life cut short,

Ghost of a king in a crumbling court.

I lost my world in a hospital bed,

You lost yours in the flames they lit instead.

Pre-chorus

Now the past runs hot like a hidden fuse,

But I’d walk into the fire if it leads to you…

Chorus

In this haunted little bookshop,

Where the dead don’t stay gone,

You’re the fire in the rafters,

You’re the whisper in the song.

You were buried in the embers,

But your heart kept shining through,

I was broken when I met you,

Now my soul is burning too.

If love can cross the line between

The living and the tomb…

I’ll meet you where the echoes are,

Here in the reading room.

Bridge

So let the town hear every note,

Let the guilty choke on smoke,

You don’t have to haunt this floor,

To be the name I’m singing for.

I’ll carry what they tried to hide,

You don’t have to stay and fight,

If you can finally let it go,

I’ll hold your story like a vow.

Verse

You said “stay,” in trembling pen,

I said, “I’m not running again.”

Two lost souls in the same old flame,

Writing our love in a stranger’s name.

Chorus

In this haunted little bookshop,

Where the dead don’t stay gone,

You’re the fire in the rafters,

You’re the whisper in the song.

They can tear the lies to pieces,

But they can’t erase the tune—

You’re the chord that keeps on ringing

In every quiet room.

If love can cross the line between

The living and the tomb…

I’ll meet you where the echoes are,

Where your ghost still guards my heart,

I’ll love you in the light and dark,

Here in the reading room.

Outro

One last note on the midnight air,

I close my eyes—you’re still there.

Every page, every room,

I’m yours

in the reading room.