

Prompt / Lyrics
[Verse 1] Sirens scream Ambulance runs Cold air in the open doors Rubber gloves snap like questions A life is fading Right in front of you Red numbers Arguing with time You see a shoe half-off Tiny sock still on Cartoon rocket on the fabric Pointing nowhere in particular [Chorus] How you gonna keep the life in them When the room smells like fear and plastic When their eyes roll past you Like you’re already too late How you gonna keep the life in them When your own hands shake When your own lungs lock And you still have to breathe for two [Verse 2] CPR Count compressions One-two-three-four Bones and hope under your palms Maybe a child Maybe a baby Head fits in one hand Like a secret you can’t drop People crowd the hallway Faces pressed to the present Someone prays your name wrong But means it like a hymn [Chorus] How you gonna keep the life in them When the clock in the corner just stares When the silence between beeps Feels louder than the sirens How you gonna keep the life in them When their skin goes grey and far away When every push feels smaller Than the size of what you’re losing [Bridge] You remember the video The classroom The mannequin Bright lights Bad coffee The easy answers on a screen But this is spit and tears Mother at your elbow Father pacing holes in the floor Your own heart sprinting nowhere So you talk to them You say their name You promise things you can’t promise Just to keep yourself from breaking [Chorus] How you gonna keep the life in them You start anyway You keep going anyway You don’t stop at maybe How you gonna keep the life in them You lend them your rhythm You lend them your fight Until either they come back Or you carry them with you For the rest of your nights
Tags
metal, Sparse minor-key piano and low sub-bass pulses under intimate male spoken word; close-mic breathy delivery, like a confessional voicemail. Subtle reversed pads swell in and out on key phrases, with a distant heartbeat kick growing toward the climax, then dropping to near-silence on the last line to leave space for the words to hang., spoken word
3:35
No
2/18/2026