[verse 1 - strummed bass shimmers, hypnotic drone, guitars scratch at the edges] The chair across from me remembers her weight I sit in it now, a counterfeit shade Warming the wood with my stolen heat The betrayal was small but it can’t be beat A gesture, a shrug of guilty flesh Echoing like boots in an empty mesh Of stairwells that lead to nowhere fast This hollow sound is built to last [chorus - bass strum intensifies, drums swing into layered polyrhythm, guitars float in delay] I tell myself it’s nothing but a pebble In the shoe of eternity’s rebel But the pebble grinds bone and makes it limp Even forever hits the ground [verse 2 - angular guitar cuts through, bass strum steady as mantra] Her eyes when they open won’t accuse That’s the cruelty I can’t refuse The mercy never comes my way That’s the price I have to pay So I polish my guilt like a worthless coin No one spends it, no one joins This laugh without sound that tears my throat Even the universe keeps its quote [bridge - bass strum becomes drone, guitars dissolve into waves of feedback, drums fragment] Bloodless ink in the cosmic books Recording all my guilty looks The ledger balances what I owe But the debt just continues to grow [final chorus - strummed bass surges like a storm, vocals strained, guitars fractured then bloom] It’s nothing but a pebble, I lie In eternity’s wounded cry The pebble grinds bone and breaks it down Even forever hits the ground [outro - strummed bass alone fading, whispered mantra, distant cymbal shimmer] The ledger of silence Keeps the count The ledger of silence What it’s about
