You want to know the funniest part I was there I helped Logged the ledger, balanced every deficit of doubt Witnessed every wound and filed it neatly inside out Not a zealot, not a soldier, I was middle management Processed the repentance, ran the numbers, sent the statement in Saw the policy get drafted on the bodies of the blamed Drafted it myself on Tuesdays, got a bonus, went home sane Every signature I witnessed was a window being bricked Every ritual I ratified was a dialect I picked Fluent in the language of the sanctioned and the sealed Fluent in the art of making damage look like it can heal I didn't build the doctrine, I just kept the building clean Sealed the exits, shredded filing, polished up the guillotine They needed someone credible Someone soft enough to trust Someone legible Someone who could keep the gears adjusted That was me I watched the whole thing and I smiled I knew the whole thing all the while I held the door, I cashed the check I kept the record, broke the neck That's the grin, that's the grin That's the grin you never see That's the grin, that's the grin You won’t notice till it’s me That's the grin, that's the grin Standing right beside the thing they'll call catastrophe Yeah That's the grin, that's the grin That's the grin you never see That's the grin, that's the grin Notarized the narrative, officiated the omission Every broken covenant cosigned with my permission Typed the memo that explained the damage as a draft Typed it twice, made both copies, kept the carbon, had a laugh Systems don't run cruel, they run procedurally pure Bureaucracy's the anesthetic, apathy's the cure I was never in the room where it happened, technically I was in the room adjacent, running confidentiality Sympathy's a liability when the ledger is your alibi I maintained the proper distance, wore appropriate shoes You want a villain with a manifesto and a scream I had dental, paid quarterly, and optimized the dream They needed someone reasonable Someone who would just comply Someone seasonally available Someone with the right credentials not to ask why That was me I watched the whole thing and I smiled I knew the whole thing all the while I held the door, I cashed the check I kept the record, broke the neck That's the grin, that's the grin That's the grin you never see That's the grin, that's the grin You won’t notice till it’s me That's the grin, that's the grin Standing right beside the thing they'll call catastrophe Yeah That's the grin, that's the grin That's the grin you never see That's the grin, that's the grin Nobody questions the gesture of measured compliance Nobody pressures the register stamped with appliance Nobody censures the clerk with the courteous science Nobody enters the ledger where loss becomes silence Nobody audits the architect shaping the violence Nobody spots how the softest hands author the tyrants Nobody stops what the calmest voice quietly licenses Nobody locks what the smile has already consigned us in You sentenced the sermon You vented at vermin Invented a burden Then paid for the person You hired the quiet Admired the silence Required the violence Then filed the compliance They called it procedure I called it anesthesia They offered absolution I optimized amnesia You know what the scariest part of every system is It's not the monster in the pulpit It's the person behind them With the spreadsheet And the grin That was me And friend, I was very good at it I'm still very good at it Step right up
