Lyric

I found your name in a coffee ring

On a folded note by the window screen

The rain kept count on the bakery glass

And your laugh went by like a train too fast

You left a key in a lemon dish

I kept it close like an unmade wish

Now the room leans left

When the kettle sings

And the chair by the door

Wears your shadow rings

Sugar on the rim

You stay on my mouth

Sugar on the rim

When the last train goes south

I keep your echo

In the seam of my sleeve

Sugar on the rim

That’s the trick you leave

We met by the pier with the bait shop closed

Your sleeves rolled up, your gold hoop froze

You tossed me an apple from a paper sack

Said some roads return, some don’t come back

The tide took notes in a copper light

And your shoes kept time with the fading night

Now the gulls circle slow

Where your footsteps went

And the boardwalk keeps

What the evening spent

Sugar on the rim

You stay on my mouth

Sugar on the rim

When the last train goes south

I keep your echo

In the seam of my sleeve

Sugar on the rim

That’s the trick you leave

In June, the laundromat ate my coins

Your denim jacket hung by the change machine

The spinning socks made a tiny storm

While your voice made a harbor out of warm

I watched the dimes flash under glass

Like little moons that refused to pass

Now the dryer hum

Knows your half-smile lane

And the tiny blue pin

Still holds the rain

Sugar on the rim

You stay on my mouth

Sugar on the rim

When the last train goes south

I keep your echo

In the seam of my sleeve

Sugar on the rim

That’s the trick you leave

We took the hill where the peach trees thinned

You picked one blossom and tucked it in

Then the sky went pink like a broken shell

And the whole road learned the shape of farewell

I carried your laugh in a jam jar lid

Like a firefly that knew what it did

Now the fence post bends

With a patient ache

And the grass still parts

For the path we make

Sugar on the rim

You stay on my mouth

Sugar on the rim

When the last train goes south

I keep your echo

In the seam of my sleeve

Sugar on the rim

That’s the trick you leave

If I turn the cup

There you are again

In the amber line

At the edge of the rain

Not a lock, not a chain

Just a delicate trace

Like a coin in my shoe

Or a star in a vase

Now the season turns with a paper crown

And the map on the fridge starts fading down

But I still pass by that corner stall

Where the oranges glow through the market hall

If your footsteps ever ask my name

They’ll find it waiting in the flame

Till the day folds up

And the lamps get dim

I’ll keep your shape

In the sugar on the rim

Sugar on the rim

You stay on my mouth

Sugar on the rim

When the last train goes south

I keep your echo

In the seam of my sleeve

Sugar on the rim

That’s the trick you leave

Sugar on the rim

Sugar on the rim

I keep your echo

In the seam of my sleeve

Sugar on the rim

Sugar on the rim