The Fever Won't Break

[Intro] Verse 1 The radio was on when I woke up. A voice behind the music said it was under control. They stopped saying "emergency." It frightened people. Now they call it "the new normal." [Piano lingers. Leave space.] I tied my shoes. I locked the door. I stepped outside. Nobody flinched. Verse 2 I walked past the market. The peaches were on sale. A woman smiled like she'd found something rare. A man complained about the line. I almost smiled. I almost joined him. Then I wondered... what we were waiting for. Nobody flinched. Chorus The fever won't break. The fever won't break. We waited for morning. We waited for change. But the days kept arriving. The years did the same. We moved things around here. We learned to rearrange. We stopped asking why. We stopped asking when. We call it our life now. We pray it won't end. The fever won't break. Verse 3 The library was gone. There was a sign on the door. Something else was coming. Nobody said what was lost. The river looked different. A little boy asked why. His father squeezed his hand... then looked away. Nobody flinched. Verse 4 The doctor changed the numbers. The numbers changed the news. The market had a good week. Another family moved. The lights still turned green. The buses still arrived. Everybody kept moving. Like nothing had changed. Nobody flinched. Bridge I keep thinking there was a morning... when all this still felt strange. Maybe there wasn't. Maybe it happened so slowly we learned the fever by another name. [Piano pauses completely.] The symptoms kept changing. The diagnosis never did. I don't know when we stopped asking. I only know... we did. Final Chorus The fever won't break. The fever won't break. We waited for morning. We waited for change. We moved things around here. We learned to rearrange. We stopped asking why. We stopped asking when. We call it our life now. We pray it won't end. The fever won't break. The fever won't break. Outro A child left a flower beside the road. I stopped for a moment. I don't know why. The sun came up. The traffic moved. Nobody flinched. [Long pause.] ...I wonder if we still know how.