Keep it like a secret
Safe and warm
Lock it in the cellar
Nesting in the shadows of your heart
Feathers bright and yellow

Until you cough it up
Until you rip it from your chest
Until you cough it up
Keep it like a secret

Fearing dawn with clenching jaws
Animal eyes and ruthless claws
Following but a trail of birds
Following but the scent of stones

Feels like a gunshot through the spine
Digs like the hunger you left unsatisfied
Homeless, unwelcome, we abide
I'm just the echo

Until you cough it up