Rhythm

I used to think everything had to move together. One clock. One pulse. One perfect line. But life does not work that way. Some things run. Some things wait. Some things come back only when you stop chasing them. And maybe love is not finding the same rhythm. Maybe it is learning how to listen. I heard the kick inside the morning Before the city opened its eyes Coffee cold on the kitchen counter Another promise wearing a tie I kept a metronome in my pocket Tried to make the whole world stay But my father spoke in silence And my mother prayed a different way Work was hitting on the one Home was dragging on the two Love was late but it was honest When it finally came through I was counting every second Like I had to make it right Then you put your hand in my hand And we walked out of time Not every heart beats the same rhythm Not every road moves in a straight line You can be close and still be different You can be yours and still be mine Not every dream runs on the same engine Not every fire burns at the same height I was trying to make us perfect But you were teaching me time At work I wore the sound of thunder Fast decisions, quiet fear Every deadline had a heartbeat Every win would disappear Then I came home to little footsteps Running circles round the room Tiny hands with no agenda Pulling daylight through the gloom And the world said move it faster And my chest said not today There are songs you cannot measure There are debts you cannot pay You were dancing in the kitchen Off the beat and still so true And I finally understood it I was not behind with you Not every heart beats the same rhythm Not every road moves in a straight line You can be close and still be different You can be yours and still be mine Not every life turns on the same signal Not every wave breaks at the same shore I was looking for the answer You were opening the door Now I hear it in the quiet In the spaces between sound In the way you breathe beside me When the night is falling down In the calls I never answered In the words I should have said In the child asleep and dreaming With a song inside her head Maybe rhythm is not order Maybe rhythm is repair Maybe all the broken pieces Still know how to meet somewhere Maybe love is not a tempo Maybe faith is not a sign Maybe life is just the moment When your rhythm answers mine Not every heart beats the same rhythm Not every road moves in a straight line You can be close and still be different You can be yours and still be mine Not every dream runs on the same engine Not every fire burns at the same height I was trying to make us perfect But you were teaching me time Not every heart beats the same rhythm Not every soul sings in the same key But when the world falls out of motion You still find your way to me So I stopped asking life to stay on beat. I stopped asking love to arrive on time. Some rhythms are loud. Some are almost invisible. But the ones that matter... They always find you.