are you still listening?

Dec 30

It plays unexpectedly,

you don't even notice
until the second verse hits -
It has to be the Spotify algorithm
digging through some forgotten playlist.

But suddenly you’re eight again,
hairbrush microphone in hand,
jumping on the couch your mom said not to jump on,
shouting every word wrong but with full confidence.

Back then it was just noise and energy,
a reason to spin until you got dizzy,
to slide across the kitchen floor in your socks,
to make your dad laugh when you nailed the high note
(you definitely did not nail the high note).

Now it plays and your body moves before you remember -
the same terrible dance moves,
and the same grinning at nothing.
dancing in your dorm room like no one's watching.
Because no one is.

but somehow everyone who mattered is right there with you,
living in three minutes and twenty-one seconds
of pure, pre-occupying joy.

And then the song stops,

The room exhales.

You stand there,

breath still caught in your chest.