Track 6 of the EP Friday Night at the Corner Counter · 2019
The Night Clerk Counts the Stars
“Night shifts in a small hotel, counting keys and stars. We ended the EP on a hush, as the evening should.”
neoclassical · neoclassical · nocturne · 4:07
Lyrics
The desk lamp hums above the key rack Twelve small hooks and only two are gone The highway sighs a mile behind the car park And the clerk sits waiting for the dawn He keeps a notebook in the drawer Every plate that passed on the road A Texas truck, a rusted blue Ford Strangers carrying their quiet load Nobody asks him what he's thinking So he lets the long night speak The night clerk counts the stars Through the glass of the lobby door One for every traveller Who stopped and wanted nothing more Than a bed and a light left on A kindness at the edge of the plain The night clerk counts the stars And wishes them all safe again A woman came in near two o'clock Her eyes were red, her coat was thin He gave her tea and a quiet corner And never asked where she had been The desert keeps its secrets But it lends the sky to anyone Who stays awake to look Until the cold turns into sun The night clerk counts the stars Through the glass of the lobby door One for every traveller Who stopped and wanted nothing more Than a bed and a light left on A kindness at the edge of the plain The night clerk counts the stars And wishes them all safe again Morning pours across the sand He turns the sign and rubs his eyes Twelve small hooks, the keys come home And the last star slips from the sky