ICE TEA Party – Part Two: Smoke and Stamps

[Em – G – D – Em] They printed pain with a fountain pen [Em – G – D – Em] Filed it under “order” again and again [C – G – D – Em] Rubber-stamped hunger, faxed in the frost [Em – G – D – Em] Said “the budget’s tight” as another life’s lost [Em – G – D – Em] Clipboard queens in a windowless room [Em – G – D – Em] Cutting off meds with a digital zoom [C – G – D – Em] They smiled at the screen, sent a final denial [Em – G – D – Em] While the inbox bled red for another long mile [C – G – D – Em] Welcome to the ICE TEA’s sequel spin— [C – G – D – Em] Where cruelty’s dressed in a corporate grin [C – G – D – Em] The ink runs cold on the working poor [C – G – D – Em] They file you down till you breathe no more ⸻ [Em – G – D – Em] She worked three jobs just to buy the light [Em – G – D – Em] But the rent went up in the dead of night [C – G – D – Em] Now she lives in her car by a locked-up school [Em – G – D – Em] While the mayor says, “Growth is a beautiful tool” [Em – G – D – Em] He crossed the border with a scholar’s dream [Em – G – D – Em] Now he’s washing dishes for a wage unclean [C – G – D – Em] His papers were pending—denied last week [Em – G – D – Em] Guess merit means nothing when your English is weak [C – G – D – Em] Welcome to the ICE TEA’s modern maze [C – G – D – Em] Where justice hides in a printer haze [C – G – D – Em] You’ll wait six months just to hear: “Not now” [C – G – D – Em] While they smile and stamp your soul somehow ⸻ [Bridge] [Em – G – D – Em] Whispers sign what screams would burn, [Em – G – D – Em] A quiet desk where no one learns. [C – G – D – Em] Stamp the page, let the echo fade, [C – G – D – Em] Then wash your hands in the mess they made. ⸻ [Em – G – D – Em] The kids still cry where the cameras aren’t [Em – G – D – Em] Just shadows now in the homeland’s heart [C – G – D – Em] And grandma’s meds got “processed wrong” [Em – G – D – Em] So she hums herself to sleep with a protest song [C – G – D – Em] This isn’t peace—it’s paperwork and pain [C – G – D – Em] Filed in silence, lost in the rain [C – G – D – Em] But they toast the stats and call it just [C – G – D – Em] While the rest of us are choking on the dust ⸻ [Outro – soft, almost spoken] [Em – G – D – Em] So I sing for the hands behind the forms [Em – G – D – Em] For the silent wars behind quiet norms [C – G – D – Em] And I’ll write till the ink won’t flow again— [C – G – D – Em] Because truth don’t wait for the richest pen