Alley Crocus

[Verse 1]
The purple jacaranda stains on Degnan Boulevard
were a map of the kingdom we swore we'd never pull apart.
I can still taste the dust from that July, the air thick as gumbo roux,
you hot-wired the floodlight, I painted the whole view.
A skeleton key you filed down from a spare you found at the park,
said we’d open any door once we figured out the dark.
You were the taproot, I was the invasive shoot, fighting for the sun,
I never thought I'd have to choose between growing up and running from one.

[Chorus]
Do you still have the key for the service alley gate?
Man, I still have the scar, proof we never learned to wait.
I got the master lock now, it just don't feel the same,
and it's weird to say out loud... I'm just praying your name.

[Verse 2]
Last time I saw you was November, through the glass at the checkout line,
you were buying a single forty, I was trying to decline
a call about some placement, some check I hadn't seen yet,
the imposter in the mirror mouthed words I hadn't said yet.
Heard you told your new boys, "that fool, he used to be mine,"
a branch you had to prune back just to let another shine.
The silence between us now is a well-tended plot of land,
where nothing is allowed to grow, you wouldn't understand.

[Chorus]
Do you still have the key for the service alley gate?
Man, I still have the scar, proof we never learned to wait.
I got the master lock now, it just don't feel the same,
and it's weird to say out loud... I'm just praying your name.

[Bridge]
Did the concrete finally win? Did the roots finally give out?
Is there anything left here we can even talk about?
I see your dad's old El Camino, still parked in the same spot,
just another faded promise left in the sun to rot.

[Outro]
The deadbolt turns.
The silence grows.