Under my Sleeve (French Cuff Blues)

Lyrics and Musical Arrangement: Quinn Jackson
Created with Udio.
Copyright © 2024
[banter]
you said you could not
read me and yet
I always wore my heart
under my sleeve:
a precision instrument
a tick-tock marking
each moment exactly
as time itself
moved forward
because of us
until, somewhere,
I missed a morning
and then let it wind down
and did not notice
when only the
tock
announced the
brief interlude of
our synchronized bliss
and then the slight
flickers started
to space out
further and further
and syncopate
but it was always there
beside the safety pin,
under my fake French cuff,
ready for inspection
and ready to
reckon us
I tap the glass now
and press it to my ear
and think I hear
perhaps the moaning
of some past spring steel glory
as yet fully unwound
and I understand
it’s just the blood
rushing to my ear
aching for a stroke
life said you could
not have me
so I wear my regrets
on my sleeve
just above my heart
now telling me the
correct time
but twice a day
as is the way with
stopped dreams