Tongue & Heel

[Verse 1]
Left foot, neon piping, born inside a cardboard prism,
First breath was the hiss of Crep Protect, a South London baptism.
Heard her tell her boy I'm just for the curb-side, the scuffs, the grit,
The Aylesbury asphalt's my purpose, and I'm purpose-built for it.
But Sunday night, 9pm, when the whole estate is sleeping,
It's a wet-wipe for my midsole, a toothbrush for the secrets I'm keeping.
Felt the tremor in her fingers fixing the lace that nearly tore,
She muttered, "Can't afford the new ones," and I've never loved her more.

[Chorus]
I'm the only one who knows the pressure of your arch when you're vexed,
The way you trace my air-bubble staring at a read-receipt text.
You act like I'm nothing, just rubber and thread on the concrete,
But you whisper "don't you break on me now" when you're running down the street.

[Verse 2]
I saw the polished lino in King's College, first floor, second ward,
Felt the silence in the waiting room cut sharper than a sword.
Heard her mum say quiet, “Omo mi, the city won't swallow you whole,”
Then I was tapping on the tiled floor, keeping time to save a soul.
On the night bus back through Peckham, she propped me on the seat opposite,
Studying a crack in my leather like a map, some dark deposit.
I carry the dust of her burdens, the red dust from the building site,
I'm the witness to her talking to herself under a sodium light.

[Chorus]
I'm the only one who knows the pressure of your arch when you're vexed,
The way you trace my air-bubble staring at a read-receipt text.
You act like I'm nothing, just rubber and thread on the concrete,
But you whisper "don't you break on me now" when you're running down the street.

[Bridge]
The sole's peeling back now, a grin with a gravel tooth,
How long 'til I'm boxed in the wardrobe, collecting dust as proof?
I've still got the shape of her hustle, the ghost of her foot inside,
The one place in the world she had nowhere left to hide.

[Outro]
Don't you break on me now.
Don't you break on me.