[Intro] (record scratch hit — drop into full breakbeat) [Verse 1 — Voice 1] Wire and patience, bend the branch slow Centuries folded in a pot, watch it grow Roots in the shallow, reaching down deep Every cut a sacrifice, nothing to keep Trained by the hand, shaped by the wind Every year scarred where the new growth begins Small in the body, vast in the soul Bonsai, bonsai, bonsai, bonsai control [Pre-Chorus — Call and Response] Voice 1: Tiny mountain Voice 2: (tiny mountain) Voice 1: Tiny sky Voice 2: (tiny sky) Voice 1: Tiny world that'll never die Voice 2: (never die... never die...) [Chorus — Call and Response] Voice 1: Beauty— Voice 2: Beauty Voice 1: Beauty in restraint— Voice 2: In restraint Voice 1: Beauty— Voice 2: Beauty Voice 1: Nothing left to paint— Voice 2: Left to paint Both (unison): Grown by silence, grown by time Voice 1: Bonsai— Voice 2: Bonsai Both: Bonsai, bonsai, perfect in design [Verse 2 — Voice 1] Pine needle precision, every leaf a choice Listen to the quiet, it's got its own voice Junipers bending where the masters led Generations passing down what the roots have said Moss on the surface, stone in the base Frozen in motion, holding its grace Small in the body, vast in the soul Bonsai, bonsai, bonsai control [BREAKDOWN — half-time, stripped to flute + vocoder] (shakuhachi alone, slow, mournful) Voice 1: Still... Voice 2: (still...) Voice 1: A thousand years... in a bowl... Voice 2: (in a bowl... in a bowl...) Voice 1: Still... Voice 2: (still...) [Drop — breaks return full speed] (record scratch — explosive re-entry) [Verse 3 — Voice 1] Back to the wire, back to the shape Nothing in nature you can't recreate Bend it, don't break it, that's the way Patience is the art form, decades not days Small in the body, vast in the soul Bonsai, bonsai, bonsai control [Final Chorus — layered, both voices doubled] Voice 1: Beauty— Voice 2: Beauty Voice 1: Beauty in restraint— Voice 2: In restraint Voice 1: Beauty— Voice 2: Beauty Voice 1: Nothing left to paint— Voice 2: Left to paint Both (unison, full power): Grown by silence, grown by time Both: Bonsai, bonsai, bonsai, bonsai... design [Outro — Call and Response, fading] Voice 1: Still... Voice 2: (still...) Voice 1: Still... Voice 2: (still...) (shakuhachi fades alone, last note held)
