THERE IS NO TOMORROW

Spend This Breath

Some clocks don't tick, they count down. A song about running out of time to say it.

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THERE IS NO TOMORROW lyrics

Artist-supplied lyric sheet, matched by title. The sheet may differ from this released performance. Production notes and alternate promotional cuts are omitted.

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Intro

Eleven fifty-nine. Sink full. Screen at two. Red maps bloom behind the newsman's face. My girl lays out her shoes for school. Both clocks are telling me the truth.

Verse 1

The phone says buy. The phone says run. The phone says choose a side by one. A past-due stamp sits by my cup. The sky on screen keeps blowing up. She asks if Tuesday needs a coat. I say, "We'll see," and clear my throat. One man stacks cans beneath his bed. One books the trip he always said. One locks the gate and checks it twice. One wears the shoes he kept too nice. The ad cuts in. The fear cuts out. A clean white truck rolls through a drought. I mute the room. The pipes knock three. Her small blue coat hangs next to me. If dawn is gone, why pack her food? I reach for bread. I make it two.

Pre-chorus

The minute hand climbs up the wall. I hear the dare beneath it all. Use what you have. Guard what you can. The clock won't tell me which I am.

Chorus

There is no tomorrow. Not one we can hold. Spend this breath like fire, or bank it like gold. Kiss me like it ends here. Plant for days to come. There is no tomorrow till tomorrow comes.

Verse 2

At noon I call my brother first. Five years break loose in one short burst. No case to win. No score to keep. He laughs so hard he starts to weep. I take the guest cup from the shelf. Good glass was made for someone else. My boss gets "no" at twelve-oh-three. My son gets "yes" before he speaks. We drive past home and find the sea. Salt hits the dash. Wind finds the key. I tell my wife what pride kept hid. She takes my hand just like she did before the bills had learned our names, before safe bets became our cage. If now is all the room we get, I want no chair left clean in it.

Chorus

There is no tomorrow. Not one we can hold. Spend this breath like fire, or bank it like gold. Kiss me like it ends here. Plant for days to come. There is no tomorrow till tomorrow comes.

Verse 3

Downstairs, a man cashes his week. By three, his pockets have gone lean. He says, "I lived. That's what it's for." At six, milk waits behind a door. A fast car cuts the school-zone bend. The driver grins like roads just end. A match burns warm in one man's palm. The next room wakes without the calm. But two thin slices, wrapped at night, can keep a child till lunch bell time. A seed tied to a broken stake may shade a face we'll never name. The coat, the bread, the call, the sea: four ways one day can spend a life. I want the spark. I want the seed. My two hands do not both agree.

Bridge

At twelve, the numbers fold to zero. No sky splits. No horn is blown. Tomorrow walks into the kitchen and answers when I call it "today." One hand lifts the guest cup high. One packs the blue coat by the door. I look down. Both hands are mine.

Chorus

There is no tomorrow. Not one we can hold. Spend this breath like fire, or bank it like gold. Kiss me like it ends here. Plant for days to come. There is no tomorrow till tomorrow comes.

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01 / The opening