Slow Down

Intro

yeah, yeah (uh)

slow down, breathe in, let it ride, ayy

Verse

I move like the night carves maps into pavement, yuh

soft lights on the dashboard, I'm tracing old statements, ayy

my mouth holds the lines I never said, teeth on a secret

tongue tied to the truth, I unpack it, I keep it, I keep it

names on my tongue like coins, jingling, somber and dented

I flip through the receipts of mistakes I defended

memory's a slow movie, rewind in a long frame

each cut is a lesson, each bruise wears my name

I barter with silence, trade hours for clarity

collect lost apologies like stamps, I send 'em to me

no crowds, no thunder, just the ache and the meter

I walk past my promises, greet them like an old leader

the clock is a witness, not a judge, not a hammer

it ticks in the corners where I thought I found answers

I keep one eye on dawn, one on what I left burning

practice forgiveness like breath, slow and returning

(yuh) I fold up the past like shirts, put 'em away

but sometimes the fabric remembers the shape of the day

Pre-chorus

and I talk to the ceiling, tell it the things that I miss (miss)

watch how the silence listens, how quiet becomes a fist (becomes a fist)

Chorus

slow down, let the words line up (line up), yeah

let the guilt sit heavy, then watch how it lightens up (lightens up), ayy

slow down, breathe the room, feel the space fill (fill)

slow down, let me learn how to keep still, keep still

Verse

I count the small victories like coins in a cup, clink-clink

teach my hands a new language, let them shape what I think

I learn to be gentle with bones that carried my faults

give them maps and pillows, let sleep rewrite the vaults

there's a ledger in my head that still argues with sunrise

it tallies the debts I carry, the might-haves, the why's

but I'm learning to write new entries in softer ink

to color outside the lines when the margins make me sink

I trace the outline of hope with a finger that's steady

call it an offering — small, honest, and ready

I say I'm sorry in sentences that don't ask to be fixed

I say I'm sorry like rain, like rhythm, like bricks

laying foundation slow, stone after stone, no sprint

I measure progress in breaths, in the way my hands tint

they don't tremble as much when I reach for the light

I hold less like grabbing, more like holding on right

and if the night hollers my failures in chorus, I answer

with softer refrains, with a voice that says, "I can, I can, I can, I can"

Bridge

let go of the grand finale, keep the small scenes

let love be a steady sound — beat, breathe, between

I won't rush the repair, won't fake a perfect smile (no)

I'll work in the margins until healing runs the mile (uh-huh)

Chorus

slow down, let the words line up (line up), yeah

let the guilt sit heavy, then watch how it lightens up (lightens up), ayy

slow down, breathe the room, feel the space fill (fill)

slow down, let me