[Intro — Clean Guitar, Cardboard Scrape, Feedback Rising]

[Chorus]
The box beneath the bed
Held every word I never said,
Blue ink, black ink, faded red,
Old dates marching through my head.
I thought the years had sealed it shut;
The ribbon loosened at my touch.

[Verse 1]
The room stood bare, the last nails gone,
I dragged the bedframe down the boards.
A cardboard corner scraped along,
Then caught against the bedroom door.
A faded ribbon held the lid,
Still tied around the things I hid.

[Pre-Chorus]
The knot came loose beneath my thumb,
The years slid out, one after one.
Then perfume crossed the empty room,
July returning in the gloom.

[Chorus]
The box beneath the bed
Held every word I never said,
Blue ink, black ink, faded red,
Old dates marching through my head.
I thought the years had sealed it shut;
The ribbon loosened at my touch.

[Verse 2]
Stamps from towns we never knew,
A photograph cut clean in two,
A platform ticket, carriage six,
Your old address in faded script.
Some pages blamed; some stopped at “Dear.”
Thirteen dates, year after year.

[Pre-Chorus]
The first seal split along the seam.
My hands knew where the folds had been.
I held the page above my knee,
Then heard the floorboards under me.

[Guitar Solo — Melody Built from the Chorus]

[Bridge]
I said the box had done no harm,
That time would bleach your face away.
But every move, I packed it first,
And took it with me anyway.

[Breakdown]
Thirteen letters. One old key.
One unused ticket underneath.
One dried rose. One photograph.
No alibi beneath the wax.

[Final Chorus]
The box beneath the bed
Held every road I left for dead,
Every plea I never red,
Every night I chose instead.
I break the wax and lift the thread;
The past sits open on the bed.

[Outro — Clean Guitar, Feedback Receding]
The room is bare. The hour is late.
One old summer fills my lap.
I turn the first page to the date:
Nineteen ninety-eight.