Zinda by Strings

Found Me Face Down

Paradox Blues

Recorded 2024

LYRICS

Verse 1
I wake up with the dawn and all I know is doubt,
Cold coffee on the dashboard, footprints lead me out.
I smile like I'm alright but the truth hides in my throat,
Quiet like a freight train, but it’s tearing at my coat.
I speak in half-truths, keep the rest under lock,
You keep patching up my heart like a cheap set of shocks.

Pre-Chorus
We dance on sharp edges, call it a compromise,
Say the sweetest things but wear a thousand small lies.

Chorus
Hold me under the porchlight, don’t let the dark take hold,
Pull me close when the night gets heavy, keep me from going cold.
You’re a map with missing lines, a storm I can’t read through,
Love’s a fire that warms my hands — or burns me clean in two.

Verse 2
Your laugh’s a neon sign, flickering in the rain,
I chase it down the backroads hoping it’ll heal the pain.
Sometimes I’m a cannon, sometimes I’m a prayer,
Sometimes I’m a long, slow oath you find in empty air.
We barter with our silence, trade favors for the truth,
You pass me your wornout jacket; I hand you back my youth.

Pre-Chorus
The highway keeps on humming like a hymn we can’t recall,
We build our little castles and watch part of them fall.

Chorus
Hold me under the porchlight, don’t let the dark take hold,
Pull me close when the night gets heavy, keep me from going cold.
You’re a map with missing lines, a storm I can’t read through,
Love’s a fire that warms my hands — or burns me clean in two.

Bridge
When you grin I forget the pain, the edges smooth and fade,
When you fall apart I feel the world begin to cave.
We’re fragile and we’re stubborn like old rusted steel,
One touch can mend a thousand things — or make the wound reveal.

(Breakdown)
Sometimes I get my bearings in the strangest kind of light,
Sometimes the road behind me is the one that holds me tight.
I don’t have the answers, only the way I try,
But if you won’t surrender, neither will I.

Final Chorus
So hold me under the porchlight, don’t let the dark take hold,
Stay close when the night’s a heavy drum and the stories get too old.
You’re a map with missing lines, a storm I can’t read through,
Love’s a wild and tender thing — a cure and a rue.

Outro
Keep me on your shoulder, like the last warm ember’s glow,
We’ll walk these broken roads together — don’t ever let me go.

Zinda by Strings

Asif Awan