Honey on Your Knuckles
Verse 1 The kitchen bulb is humming
casting yellow on the floor
Clothes are scattered in the hall leading to the door. You’re standing at the basin
barefoot on the tile
Licking honey from your knuckle with a sideways smile. Tank top slipping down the shoulder
hair up in a twist
A mess of sugar and the trouble that I can’t resist. Tasting like the late night hunger
wanting something more
Forgot if we came in for food or what we’re looking for.
Verse 2 You hold the hand up
asking if I want a little bit
Like you don’t already know that I am down for it. The world shrinks to the finger
the amber dripping slow, Thumb across the lower lip
the only place to go. I close my mouth around the taste
the sentence falls away
No words are left inside the throat
nothing left to say.
Pre-Chorus No candles flickering
just the traffic sound
Breathing getting heavy as we stand our ground. It happens under buzzing lights
burning white and stark
We don’t need a symphony or hiding in the dark.
Chorus Honey on your knuckles, sugar on the tongue
Trouble in your eyes
though the night is young. Leaning on the laminate
elbows knocking tight
Trading all the body heat inside the kitchen light. Every touch is sticky
pulling on the skin, If the neighbors hear the noise
they’ll know the state we’re in. Blaming it on plumbing when the cabinets start to shake
But we know it’s the mess that two of us will make.
Verse 3 You lift me to the counter
jars are clinking in the back
Spoon hits the linoleum with a metal crack. Knees divide around the hips
fingers slip beneath
Caught between the fabric and the grinding of the teeth. Honey prints upon the shoulder
shining in the gray, We steal the hour from the sleep
keeping it at bay. Lazy thieves inside the night
taking what we need
Following the hunger and the sugar and the greed.
Pre-Chorus Permission lives in looking
in the checking of the gaze
Spoken confirmations in the heat and in the haze. Even as the fever spikes
we speak between the breath
Driving this delicious burn, scared to death.
Chorus Honey on your knuckles, sugar on the tongue
Trouble in your eyes
though the night is young. Leaning on the laminate
elbows knocking tight
Trading all the body heat inside the kitchen light. Every touch is sticky
pulling on the skin, If the neighbors hear the noise
they’ll know the state we’re in. Blaming it on plumbing when the cabinets start to shake
But we know it’s the mess that two of us will make.
Bridge Later on the steam will fill the tiny bathroom space
Water washing sugar trails from every single place. Sharing one small towel
bumping arms and wet, Stealing kisses in the fog
a night we won’t forget. The floor is getting soaked
the mirror turning white
Laughing at the slippage in the middle of the night. My palms remember honey
your back remembers hands
Better than the rigid lines of any future plans.
Outro Falling into bed, damp and half-undone
Sheets are sticking to the skin
waiting for the sun. Breathing in the quiet
tangled in the heap
The kitchen holds the secret while we fall asleep.