[Verse 1] Desire takes the chair by the window Says, “Open the door, let the whole world in” Duty lays a ledger on the table Love keeps turning every page back again Pride clears its throat, demands the final word And every voice has learned to sound like law I sit beneath their portraits in the hallway Holding the life they’re voting on [Pre-Chorus] Hands go up around the chamber Names are called, the tally’s read I can hear them choose my future I’m the only one who isn’t heard [Chorus] The parliament of one convenes inside my head Desire, duty, love, and pride decide instead They draw the lines, they raise the walls, they call the motion through But I’m the one who wakes tomorrow Living with what they choose [Verse 2] Desire wants the bright road past the harbor Duty says the bridge is mine to mend Love asks who will still be there beside me Pride says never let them see you bend They trade my hours like a stack of paper They spend my yes before I know the cost Then morning finds me at the open doorway Counting what was chosen, what was lost [Pre-Chorus] Hands go up around the chamber Names are called, the tally’s read I can hear them choose my future I’m the only one who isn’t heard [Chorus] The parliament of one convenes inside my head Desire, duty, love, and pride decide instead They draw the lines, they raise the walls, they call the motion through But I’m the one who wakes tomorrow Living with what they choose [Bridge] Let the record show: I was here With my own pulse beneath the noise Let the record show: the cost was mine Though I never cast a choice I won’t silence every counsel I won’t burn the chamber down I will take the chair among them And make my vote count now [Final Chorus] The parliament of one convenes inside my head Desire, duty, love, and pride can speak—but not decide instead They draw their lines; I hear them all; I choose what carries through I’m the one who wakes tomorrow And I will choose what I live through [Outro] One chair pulled close One hand raised The life is mine The vote is mine
