Watching the Canary

[Intro: Soft clean guitar picking, distant ambient hum, no drums] [Verse] There’s a yellow flicker in the corner Small as a second thought Feathers trembling in the half-light In the air we never wrought They say it’s just precaution Just a measure of the gas But I hear it when it falters Like it’s interrupting a mass [Chorus] We watch the canary We wait for the sign Breathing easy On borrowed time If it falls silent We’ll call it fate But we knew all along What we asked it to take [Instrumental: Low bass enters, brushed snare heartbeat rhythm] [Verse] It sings without complaint Doesn’t question where it’s placed Hanging in a wire cradle In a tunnel carved in haste We say it’s only nature That something small must test the air But there’s something in the stillness That feels like a final prayer [Pre-Chorus: Vocal cracks slightly, guitar swelling] I pretend I don’t hear it strain Pretend the dust don’t taste the same [Chorus] We watch the canary We wait for the sign Hands in our pockets Drawing the line If it stops singing We’ll cover our eyes Say no one warned us About the sky [Bridge: Nearly a cappella, faint bass pulse] What does it know that we ignore? What does it feel before the fall Turns heavy in its tiny chest? Before the silence does the rest? (Oh) We call it necessary (Oh) But it’s never temporary [Build: Drums swell softly, guitar distortion subtle] [Chorus] We watch the canary Pretend we’re surprised When the smallest thing Pays the highest price We climb the ladder Back to the sun Leaving the cage For another one [Outro: Instruments gradually drop away, soft guitar remains] Still swinging in the dark Still singing til it can’t And we just listen Like that’s enough [end]