The Heart Beneath the Floorboards

That pale and watching flame

I moved so slowly through the doorway
I held my breath against the night
A thousand careful little movements
Everything was done just right

He never knew that I was near him
Never saw the ending come
And when the final hour found us
I believed that I had won

Beneath the boards, beneath the silence
No one could discover what I'd done
I welcomed every knock upon the doorway
For surely, I had overcome

But there's a heart beneath the floorboards
Beating louder than before
Every silence turns to thunder
Every breath becomes a war

I can hide the blood and secrets
I can lock away the crime
But the sound beneath the floorboards
Keeps on counting out my time

The officers came in the morning
I offered chairs and spoke with ease
We laughed together in the chamber
I thought my confidence would please

But then I heard it, faintly beating
A little rhythm in the ground
I smiled and tried to speak above it
But it only grew in sound

Stop it! Can't you hear it?
Why won't you make it cease?
The walls are closing in around me
There is no room for peace

I know that you can hear it
I know you know the truth
That dreadful sound is everywhere
It is tearing through my youth

There's a heart beneath the floorboards
And it will not let me sleep
All the things I buried in the darkness
Have awakened from the deep

I can no longer bear the silence
I can no longer play the part
Tear the floorboards from beneath us—
There! The beating of his heart!

I did it.
I killed him.
Lift the boards.
And find him.