[Verse 1]
Tuesday, the bagel place, line wrapped by the window,
somebody's hand goes up like a flag on a slow parade,
I lift mine too, quick, sure, a little proud,
big grin loading, elbow locked, present and displayed,
then I catch the angle — her eyes sail past my shoulder,
landing on some guy in a camel coat behind me,
my hand's still hanging there, a forgotten balloon,
nowhere to put it, no string left to find me,
so I rake it through my hair like that was always the plan,
rictus grin stapled on, pretending I'm a regular man.
[Chorus]
Just my hand in the air, caught in nobody's weather,
a wave gone wandering, lost somewhere in the ether,
my hand in the air, half a second, forever,
somebody else's hello, and I claimed it like treasure.
[Verse 2]
My friend Dani says she used to die in moments like it,
till she started turning the wave into a stretch toward the sky,
arms up, big yawn, "oh, just loosening my shoulder,"
nobody's the wiser, and the panic rolls on by,
now when it happens I just point past my own head,
"he means you, I think," soft laugh, we're square and even,
turns out the guy in the coat does the same exact thing,
we all just nod like buoys, bobbing, half-believing,
I called Dani after, told her it happened twice this week,
she laughed so hard down the phone I forgot to feel weak.
[Bridge]
No trick erases it, no clever little fix,
you'll still raise your hand for a stranger's politics,
we're all just guessing who the smile was ever for,
squinting at hellos thrown past us toward the door,
that flinch when you realize — it's a universal ache,
small, forgivable, the apophenia we all make,
seeing a greeting meant for us in a wave that wasn't ours.
[Verse 3]
It isn't just the sidewalk, it's the little glowing screen,
a heart dropped on a comment and I swear it's aimed at me,
I answer like we're talking, type three lines, hit send,
then realize the reply was for a name I'll never be,
delete it quick and quiet, hope the feed forgets I tried,
but somewhere there's a folder full of waves I misapplied,
my sister says she does it too, with names across a crowded bar,
cheers raised for someone's birthday and she toasts from where we are,
it's not pathetic, just the wiring, hope wired a little loose,
reaching for connection like a cord without a use,
and maybe that's the sweetest, dumbest thing we do,
mistaking all the wide world's noise for something aimed at you.
[Chorus]
Just my hand in the air, caught in nobody's weather,
a wave gone wandering, lost somewhere in the ether,
my hand in the air, half a second, forever,
somebody else's hello, and I claimed it like treasure.
[Chorus]
Just my hand in the air, caught in nobody's weather,
a wave gone wandering, lost somewhere in the ether,
my hand in the air, half a second, forever,
somebody else's hello, and I claimed it like treasure.