"The Iron Frame" [Interlude - Sam (female)] (The music pulls back slightly. Spoken word, calm, echoing slightly over a heavy bass. The talk box wheezes like a busted church organ, all bent vowels and rubbery harmonics, while the keys hold a low, smoky chord.) The world sees the iron. They see the height, the shadow, the absolute refusal to move. But they don't see the forge. They don't know the cost of the fire it took to cast the frame. [Verse 1 - Matt (male)] (Voice rough, weathered, carrying all the miles) I spent a decade in the black, running naked on the edge of the knife Lost an angel to the dark, stopped caring 'bout my own damn life I was the storm, I was the cage, I was the violence in the night Fought the reaper to a draw, always waking for another fight They tried to lock me in the cold, tried to tell me I was bound to fall But a wild, broken engine doesn't answer to a concrete wall. [Pre-Chorus - Matt (male) & Sam (female)] (Slide guitar swells, weeping and heavy) (Matt - male) I carry the ghosts... (Sam - female) ...but I don't let 'em speak. (Matt - male) I swallowed the flame... (Sam - female) ...so the timber won't leak. [Chorus - Matt (male)] (The talk box screams, the drums pound down on every beat) Now I'm the wall in the doorway, I'm the lock on the gate! I stand in the silence, I carry the weight! Got a rage in the chest that will never go cold, Used to burn down the house, now it’s keeping the hold! Stand back from the border, don't test out the steel, I’m the only damn thing keeping this world real! [Interlude - Sam (female)] (The heavy guitars drop out. Just the kick drum, steady as a pulse, and the slide guitar crying softly in the background. Spoken word) A fire left wild just turns everything to ash. But a master mechanic knows how to build a box. How to trap the explosion. How to turn a runaway force into a shield that nothing can break. [Verse 2 - Matt (male)] (Acoustic guitar joins the bass, grounding the melody) Then Jackie looked through the rust, saw the man underneath the noise Didn't flinch at the armor, didn't run from the broken boys She spoke a word into the static, pulled me out of the roaring flood Gave me a reason to build, washed the madness right out of the blood Now I look at Rogue, Hermione, and little Waverly’s smile And I’ll stand guard on the porch for every remaining mile. [Pre-Chorus - Matt (male) & Sam (female)] (The rhythm builds back up, thick and driving) (Matt - male) They won't feel the burns... (Sam - female) ...they won't carry the scar. (Matt - male) I'm the shield in the dark... (Sam - female) ...I'm the lock on the bar. [Chorus - Matt (male) & Sam (female)] (Maximum volume, the whole band leaning into the groove) Yeah, I'm the wall in the doorway, I'm the lock on the gate! I stand in the silence, I carry the weight! Got a rage in the chest that will never go cold, Used to burn down the house, now it’s keeping the hold! Stand back from the border, don't test out the steel, I’m the only damn thing keeping this world real! [Verse 3 - Matt (male)] (The band drops back to a slow, steady grind; the vocals land plain and direct) So if you’re wondering what I am when the smoke is gone, I’m the frame in the wreckage, still standing on. Not a saint, not clean, just built from the worst of it, Held together by hands that knew how to fix. Jackie gave me a home, and the kids gave me a name, Now I use every scar like a screw in the frame. What used to crack the floorboards, I keep in the beam, Turned the worst of my damage into something that means. [Bridge - Matt (male)] (Music drops to a gritty, distorted bass groove and the talk box, now clipped, metallic, and fully robotic) I am perimeter. I am radar. Sector clear. No breach detected. Let the world spin out of control out there. In here, the line holds. [Outro] (The kick drum slowly fades like a heartbeat calming down. Female voice hums a low, soothing melody in the background. The slide guitar hits one final, ringing note that hangs in the air before fading into total, peaceful silence.)
