The Garnet Chip

[Verse 1]
Delilah's husband's Carhartt jacket smells like diesel and rain.
The Singer hums its low-G promise, stitching through a coffee stain.
My calloused thumb feels for a snag inside the pocket's dusty dark,
And closes 'round a cold gold hoop with a little garnet spark.

[Pre-Chorus]
(Key lifts a whole step)
The whole world shrinks down to the light above my hands, a sudden, buzzing dread.
Some things you can't un-see, some stitches can't be pulled from the thread.

[Chorus]
(Key returns to home)
An honest needle for a crooked seam?
Or just another secret I'm supposed to keep?

[Verse 2]
It's quarter after three, and Jesse's breathin' soft and low.
This little chip of glass and gold ain't Delilah's, this I know.
"He's workin' double shifts," she said, "to get us through the lean."
This earring doesn't smell like diesel, it smells like cheap perfume and gasoline.

[Pre-Chorus]
(Key lifts a whole step)
The whole world shrinks down to the light above my hands, a sudden, buzzing dread.
Some things you can't un-know, some words are better left unsaid.

[Chorus]
(Key returns to home)
An honest needle for a crooked seam?
Or just another secret I'm supposed to keep?

[Bridge]
This twenty dollars for the mendin' pays the light bill for the week.
Is kindness lettin' comfort lie, or is it forcing truth to speak?

[Outro]
I bite the thread off with my teeth.
And put the jacket on the heap.