Small Teeth in the Dark — A Song Inspired by Animal Rescue Corps rescue of 133 chihuahuas, one large dog, and 12 cats from an overcrowded Rutherford County Tennessee property

[Verse 1]
Back room breathing like a broken amp
Wire for a sky and a floor gone damp
Tiny jaws clicking time in the rust
Every little heartbeat choking on dust

[Pre-Chorus]
Somebody heard what the walls tried to swallow
Somebody came with a light in their hands
We were not a number, we were thunder with ribs
Waiting for the door to remember it can bend

[Chorus]
Small teeth in the dark
Bite a hole through the night
Small teeth in the dark
Still alive, still alive
If you hear us scratching under all that silence
Kick the hinge until it sparks
Small teeth in the dark

[Verse 2]
One big shadow in the weeds outside
Twelve soft ghosts with their moon-glass eyes
A hundred little sirens with no street to run
Learning that a hand can be warmer than a gun

[Pre-Chorus]
Pass us up slowly, palm into palm
From the bad air into the dawn
Every cage is a mouth that lied
Every open latch is a battle cry

[Chorus]
Small teeth in the dark
Bite a hole through the night
Small teeth in the dark
Still alive, still alive
If you hear us scratching under all that silence
Kick the hinge until it sparks
Small teeth in the dark

[Bridge]
Count us if you have to
But don't leave us as a count
Names come later
Breath comes now
Low growl, hard floor
No more, no more
Low growl, hard floor
No more

[Final Chorus]
Small teeth in the dark
Bite a hole through the night
Small teeth in the dark
Still alive, still alive
We are not the sorrow that the room became
We are sparks in a cage-marked heart
Small teeth in the dark
Small teeth in the dark