Come Out, Little Light

Intro

Creak, creak — the porch boards breathe (creak, creak)

Lantern tilts, the wick remembers me (oh-oh)

Fox-call far, the moon spits silver

Come closer, come closer, listen — shhh, shh

Verse

There's chalk on the doorstep, names I don't recall

Boot prints in the ivy like a slow parade of claws

Portraits blink polite, then one of them snarls

A clock swallows midnight and it never lets it out

Teeth on the mantel grin, teeth on the mantel leer (yeah)

Cobweb curtains twitch where the children used to play

The attic keeps a cough like a dry old throat

And when the floorboard sighs I hear a chorus grow

Pre-chorus

Candles tilt their heads, wax tears on the sill (ah-ah)

Something in the wallpaper has begun to learn my name

I try to breathe but the air remembers other mouths

I try to laugh but the laugh comes back with teeth

Chorus

Come out, come out, little light, don't hide (come out)

Come out, come out, the night's got room inside (come out)

We sing (oh-oh), we call (oh-oh), we pull (oh-oh), we pry

Come out, come out, little light — and say goodbye

Come out, come out, come out, come out (come out)

Verse

Footsteps count like coins in a wishing well (one, two, three)

The mirror holds a stranger who smiles with my hands

Window panes wear letters scratched in a child's sharp rhyme

They say, "Stay for the party," but there's no time like mine

Bats applaud the rafters with a velvet, rubber clap

The pantry keeps a secret that tastes like moth and rust

I find a folded note that reads: "We forgot you twice"

A lullaby gone wrong, and everyone hums along (hmmm)

Pre-chorus

The hallway breathes in color like a mouth of old theater (ooh)

A coat rack puts on voices that my grandmother wore

I shut the door but the hinges rehearse my name back at me

I walk the rooms like I'm a coin chasing its last sound

Chorus

Come out, come out, little light, don't hide (come out)

Come out, come out, the night's got room inside (come out)

We sing (uh-huh), we call (uh-huh), we pull (uh-huh), we pry

Come out, come out, little light — and say goodbye

Come out, come out, come out, come out (come out)

Bridge

Under the bed a city breathes in knob and shoe

There are tiny paper people with paper-paper shoes

They build a skyline of milk-carton bones and candlebone spires

They trade my lost shoe for a whisper and a grin

There is a door behind the wardrobe that I never closed

It opens like a mouth that remembers tasting names

I step through slow — the floor applauds, the ceiling sighs

And everything I loved comes forward on its hands and lies (lies)

Chorus

Come out, come out, little light, don't hide (come out)

Come out, come out, the night's got room inside (come out)

We sing (oh-oh), we call (oh-oh), we pull (oh-oh), we pry

Come out, come out, little light — and say goodbye

Come out, come out, come out, come out (come out)

Outro

(la-la-la) hum the hinges,