Spare Key

Third on the ring

Third on the ring

Brass gone dull where my thumb keeps turning it

Third on the ring, still warm from my pocket

You cut it the week that the lease came through

Said hold this in case I lock myself out

Six years and I used it twice

Watered your fern when you flew to your mother's

Stacked up the mail, never opened a letter

Gone before you got home every time

Brand-new deadbolt, bright as a coin

I didn't try it, I knew from the stairs

You changed the lock

But you never asked for this back

I STILL CARRY YOUR SPARE KEY

FOR A DOOR THAT WON'T KNOW ME

YOU CHANGED THE LOCK, NOT THE STREET

AND I STILL SLOW DOWN

YOU NEVER ASKED FOR IT BACK

SO I NEVER GAVE IT

Your sister waved from the bakery window

Said you're working nights out at the depot

Said you're sleeping better, said it twice

Like the second time could make it true

I still know which stair complains

Where you hid the rent in the cereal box

I could walk your rooms with my eyes closed

Some maps don't change when the borders do

Brand-new deadbolt, bright as a coin

I didn't try it, I knew from the stairs

You changed the lock

But you never asked for this back

I STILL CARRY YOUR SPARE KEY

FOR A DOOR THAT WON'T KNOW ME

YOU CHANGED THE LOCK, NOT THE STREET

AND I STILL SLOW DOWN

YOU NEVER ASKED FOR IT BACK

SO I NEVER GAVE IT

OPEN THE DOOR

I KNOW YOU'RE HOME

I KNOW YOU'RE HOME

I DON'T NEED TO COME IN

Maybe the lock was never for me

Maybe leaving was the only thing it kept

Maybe you changed what I could enter

But not what I remember

I STILL CARRY YOUR SPARE KEY

FOR THE NIGHT THAT YOU NEED ME

YOU CHANGED THE LOCK, NOT THE STREET

I'LL STILL SLOW DOWN

YOU NEVER ASKED FOR IT BACK

SO I'M KEEPING IT

Third on the ring

Warm from my pocket