Breath hangs like ghosts against the black

Windshield icing, no turning back

The calendar is bleeding days

December eats the sun’s last rays

Twelve months compressed into one sigh

Rearview mirror, empty sky

The year is packing up and gone

But something in this cold feels wrong

In the cold December drive

Barely frozen, half alive

Headlights cutting through the white

Chasing ghosts into the night

Engine hums, the heater breathes

Winter takes but never leaves

Cold December.

City buried, corners soft

Static radio, stations lost

Rewind the tape, replay the scene

The year that was, the years between

Old photographs in yellow light

Faces blurred but feelings bright

We promised things we couldn’t keep

Now the snow is six feet deep

In the cold December drive

Counting down from five to five

Tail lights fading in the storm

Searching for a place that’s warm

Engine hums, the heater breathes

Winter takes but never leaves

Cold December.

January feels like a lie we tell ourselves.

That something changes when the numbers do.

But the cold doesn’t check the calendar.

And neither do I.

(Synth swell)

(Beat returns)

Cold December drive!

Still somehow alive!

One more mile to go!

Buried in the snow!

COLD DECEMBER.

(Whispered): Same time next year…