Alix Olson - Checking My Pulse

Your face crept into that space between my reflex and my resolve,
kind of like the crevice you don’t notice til it takes down the damn wall.

Now we’re sitting in the window; your forehead is red-hot and touching my knee..
and I am checking my pulse — making sure it hasn’t quit on me.

And I’m sorry if you’re thinking that I knew what I was doing.
I guess what I do best is look like I am in control.
But tonight, tonight, I am a soft and untamed thing,
and I will wrap my breath around you til your exhale comes clean.

I am checking my pulse, yeah, checking my pulse.

And you are the buried penny at the bottom of the pool,
so I guess, I guess that makes me the fool diving deep for you.
I’ll stick you in my pocket, all shiny, all precious, and all.. not mine.
A hidden, forbidden treasure; baby, you're the worst kind.
And underneath the surface, all things loom larger,
so I’m searching for your edges to fish you up, ship you up out of the water.
And you are that sweet wish that she’s thrown;
I would have caught you in the air, girl, had I known.

And now the space between these bodies surpasses the sum of its parts
and I am crawling inbetween these moments, balancing words, hoping I don’t get stuck.
And I was just thinking ‘distraction’, and now I’m thinking distraction’s a relative thing..
because I was casually splashing; and now I’m a casualty sinking.

Yeah I am checking my pulse, yeah, checking my pulse….

And in hot water, my brain just kinda puckers up,
and I’m drowning, jaws wide open now, cause my mouth it just won’t seem to shut.
And you might just be a shiny thing, but you are the shiny thing I am pursuing.
And when I said “you talk too much”, it was cause there was stuff I'd rather you’d have been doing….

And then you take my breath.
I say “hey, I need that to get back to the top.”
“But we’re beautiful down here”, you say, “you know, girl
the world won’t stop.”
We are sitting in the window, and your forehead is red-hot and touching my knee,
and I am checking my pulse, making sure it hasn’t quit on me.

I am just checking my pulse, making sure she hasn’t quit on me…