Dormant Witness

[Verse 1]
The Ficus Lyrata from back in April
Came home today in the bed of her truck.
Its petiole bones are brittle and grateful,
The water line on the pot is just bad luck.
I see the faint scars from a fungus gnat war,
A battle you lost three Mondays ago.

[Chorus]
Oh, dormant witness with your paper leaves,
Tell me what the fighting sounded like.
Did you drink the bitter quiet from the window seat?
Did you wilt under the kitchen light?

[Verse 2]
"It just stopped growing for us," is all she said,
Her hands were cold fog on the plastic rim.
I know the look of a root bound up in dread,
Choking on hope at the bottom of a whim.

[Chorus]
Oh, dormant witness with your paper leaves,
Tell me what the fighting sounded like.
Did you drink the bitter quiet from the window seat?
Did you wilt under the kitchen light?

[Bridge]
I didn't say a word, just wrote the credit down.
Some transplants never take, no matter the town.

[Outro]
Dormant witness...
Tell me what it sounded like...