Young Brian Robespierre sat in his old pickup, parked on the edge of a muddy Louisiana bayou. The air was thick with the scent of cypress trees and moss, but all he could feel was the weight pressing on his chest. He turned the radio up, hoping for a song to drown out the thoughts that had been swirling in his mind since the day Antoinette Lafayette walked away.

She had always been the eye of every young man in town. With her dark curls falling over her shoulders, a smile that could light up any room, and a laugh that turned heads, Antoinette was the embodiment of everything Brian ever wanted. They were in love once—fiercely, deeply. But love wasn’t always enough, and somewhere between their long southern nights and the endless promises of forever, something shifted. They fell apart like the muddy banks of the bayou slowly crumbling into the water.

The radio crackled, static in the humid air, but Brian kept it loud as if the noise could fill the empty space in his heart.

“I turn my radio up so I can hear what’s going on, seems like a million years since you’ve been gone…”

It had only been a few months, but it might as well have been a lifetime. He could still see her in his dreams—her eyes, her laughter, her ghost lingering in every corner of his mind. She was gone, yet still there. Everywhere.

Brian sighed, running a hand through his messy hair, the curls damp from the late afternoon heat. He was doing his best to move on. But even though his friends told him it would get better, nothing felt right without Antoinette. She had been his whole world, and now that world was crumbling around him.

“Time slips through my hands…”

He looked at his hands, rough from years of working the land, fixing fences, and playing his guitar. His hands had built things, touched things—touched her. But now, they felt empty. He could fix anything with these hands except the one thing that mattered. Time was slipping away, and with it, any hope of fixing the love they once had.

The thought made him roll the window down, letting in the thick Louisiana air. He needed to feel something real, something outside his own head. The world outside his truck was full of life—the hum of crickets, the call of birds in the trees—but inside, it was just him and his thoughts.

“I roll my wind sheds up, so I can see the world outside…”

He had thought about leaving. Hell, he’d even packed a bag once or twice. Maybe a change of scenery was what he needed. Get out of the swamp, the memories, the ghost of Antoinette. But every time he reached for the door, something pulled him back. Maybe it was pride. Maybe it was the hope that one day, she might come back to him. But that hope was fading fast like the summer sun sinking low over the bayou.

He grabbed his old guitar from the passenger seat, the strings worn from hours of playing through the pain. He strummed a few chords, trying to work out the melody in his mind, the one that never seemed to rhyme. The song he wanted to write about her, but couldn’t. His thoughts were tangled, like the Spanish moss hanging from the trees, swaying in the soft evening breeze.

“I got a bug in a word, that don’t seem to rhyme…”

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t find the words to say what he felt. Not to her, not to himself. But he kept playing, letting the music say what his heart couldn’t.

The world outside his window kept turning, life going on without him. His friends were out at the bar, the one where he and Antoinette used to go on Friday nights. He couldn’t bear to go there anymore. Not without her. So he stayed here, on the edge of the bayou, watching the world crumble from where he stood.

“Time slips through my hands…”

He stared at the horizon, the setting sun casting a golden light across the water. For a moment, he thought about what could have been—if they had worked it out, if they had fought harder, loved harder. But time had slipped through his hands, and now all he had left were memories and a heart that still hadn’t figured out how to move on.

He strummed the final chord on his guitar and let it fade into the night. The music stopped, but the ache in his chest remained. Maybe it always would. Maybe some things couldn’t be fixed, no matter how much time you gave them.

Brian turned off the radio, sat in the silence for a moment, and then drove off, the headlights of his truck cutting through the darkness, as the last traces of sunlight disappeared behind him.

He didn’t know where he was headed, but he knew he couldn’t stay here. Not anymore. Time might slip through his hands, but he wasn’t going to let it leave him standing still forever.

LYRICS

I turn my radio up so I can hear what’s going on
Seems like a million years since you’ve been gone
Where can I find some peace of mind
Everybody wants to quote that line
My back’s to the wall but I’m doing fine
Excuse the mess but I couldn’t find the…

Time slips through my hands
I watch the world as it crumbles
From where I stand
And time slips through my hands

I roll my wind sheds up
So I can see the world outside
Still looking for a place to run and hide
Well could you lend me a helping hand
I’m ready to take a stand
I got this life on loan
But it isn’t mine
Well I’ll pay it all back
But I just might need some…

Time slips through my hands
I watch the world as it crumbles
From where I stand
And time slips through my hands

My hands
My hands
My hands
My hands

Ah ah ah ah

I turn my radio up so I can hear what’s going on
Shed a thousand tears since you’ve been gone
I need a change of scenery
There’s nothing here that I wanna see
I got a bug in a word
That don’t seem to rhyme
But I could work it all out
But I just might need some…

Time slips through my hands
I watch the world as it crumbles
From where I stand

And time slips through my hands
I watch the world as it crumbles
From where I stand

And time slips through my hands
My hands
My hands
Through my hands
My hands
Ah ah ah ah

Ah ah ah ah ah ah
Ah ah ah ah ah ah
Ah ah ah ah ah ah
Ah ah ah ah ah ah

Written by Brian Jay Cline
Produced by Punish Studios and enhanced by A.I.