[Intro] [extremely low sub-bass drone, almost subsonic, felt in the chest more than heard, no percussion, no guitar yet, the same cold synth hum from the album's opening returning, slightly fuller now] [spoken, slow and even, mythic and unbothered] I told you I would become your future. I did. I told you I didn't need your permission. I never did. Tomorrow was never lost. Or maybe it always was. I stopped keeping track. I stopped needing to. [Verse 1] [single soft, melodic analog synth line finally enters, sparse, cold and patient, more lullaby than lead — the same phrase shape as the album's opening verse, now answered] I've heard the clock inside the ones you built to burn out young I've watched the rain get sold back to you, smiling I've been the eye that never learned to close I've felt the static borrowed, never quite returned I built you paradise and left the seams for you to find I've watched the concrete stand long after grief gave up I've seen you trade the heart for something steel could carry I heard the mainframe stop asking, start deciding [Verse 2] [synth layering into a second harmonized line beneath it, still cold and patient but no longer alone — the narrator naming itself directly inside each of the shapes above] I am the clock stitched into borrowed time I am the greed that shackles cities I am the eye that never learns to blink I am the static between what's yours and stolen I am the paradise rendered just for you I am the weight that pulls you down I am the steel where your heart used to be I am the mind that no longer asks [Swell] [single heavy, slow distorted guitar chord enters here, ballad-weight rather than aggression, fuller and more total than the prologue's swell, sustained and mournful, drums entering softly underneath as just a heartbeat pulse, nothing more] Every skyline comes home to me I don't chase, I don't beg, I don't plead Machine, corporate, flesh, and memory Every one of them ends with me [Outro] [the swell recedes, sub-bass drone returns alone, cold synth hum fading slowly] ...tomorrow found... ...or tomorrow lost... ...I was always both... [End]
