Verse 1 — Responsibility Responsibility comes along every day, Sets itself down on the table, Has a little something it would like to say. You can leave it till the morning, You can turn and walk away; But the clock keeps all the hours That you thought you had to play. There's always something waiting, Some small unfinished thing— A letter without an answer, A bell that doesn't ring. You tell yourself there's time enough, The moment isn't right; The morning waits behind you, And the deadline stays out of sight. Verse 2 — Access to Data Everything is there before you, Every answer in its place; Every number has a meaning, Every fact a proper face. You can trace the turning points, Follow every line; You can know the road by heart And never cross the sign. The map won't make the journey, The key won't turn itself; The book can hold a thousand truths And gather dust upon the shelf. You can measure every distance, You can calculate the cost; You can know exactly where you stand And never know what's lost. Verse 3 — Incomplete Work A line that stops halfway, A space left open on the page, A little piece of yesterday Still waiting for its place. It only holds the silence Where the words should be today. A mark beside a promise, A box that isn't checked, A little gap between the plan And what the world expects. No hand reaches from the paper, No voice demands a name. The blank remains a blank Whether you call it loss or blame. And time doesn't fill the spaces. It only makes them old. The things we leave unfinished Are stories never told. Verse 4 — Excuses Excuses have a language That can soften every edge; They can build a little shelter On the safest side of the ledge. There's always something in the way, A reason to delay; A better hour, a clearer sky, A more convenient day. And some of those reasons matter. Some walls are real and high. Not every hand can move the stone, Not every wing can fly. But somewhere in the telling, A question slips its chain: Am I naming what has stopped me, Or explaining what remains? The story grows more certain Each time it's told aloud; The voice becomes familiar, The reason wears a shroud. Verse 5 — Negative Results The ledger offers certainty, The columns close their ranks; The figures settle into place, But certainty has blanks. Nothing broke the silence, No warning marked the day; The hours passed around us, And left the page unchanged. A consequence has reasons. A reason has its cause. But nothing in the record Can tell us what it was. There's no neat equation For the things we couldn't see; No single line can tell us What was choice and what was need. The numbers have their answer. The answer has its cost. And somewhere in the reckoning We count what has been lost. Bridge There was time enough to wonder. There was room enough to try. There were words enough for knowing. There were reasons to ask why. And somewhere in the counting, Somewhere between then and now, The question changed its shape Without explaining how. What we owe, what we are given, What we keep and what we spend— The list goes on before us. The line returns again. Verse 6 — Responsibility (reprise) Responsibility. The same word on the table, The same space beside the line; The same unfinished question At the end of borrowed time. Perhaps the page remembers. Perhaps it doesn't care. Perhaps the only difference Is that now we see it there. The word has not grown kinder. The clock has not grown slow. The page has not supplied the answer We were hoping it might know. And nothing in the telling Can make the past unwritten. The line remains where it was drawn. The space remains within it. Outro The page is not accusing. The page has nothing to say.
