[Intro] Testing the signal from a pod above the bay, Boots on the old block, same dust, new day. Year twenty-sixty-nine; let the transmission ride, I still know the corner where the old stories hide. [Chorus] Welcome to tomorrow, but the roots stay near, New maps in the hand, same voice in the ear. The skyline keeps moving, the pocket stays true, Whole worlds in a chip, still I’m talking to you. [Verse 1] I wake where the harbor runs quiet and blue, A courier drone brings my coffee on cue. My neighbor still fixes a radio by hand, Says, “Listen past the noise; you’ll understand.” A silver train glides over Market Street, I tap an old rhythm with my heel to the beat. My mother’s voice file says, “Don’t lose your name,” So I wear her brass button like a family flame. [Chorus] Welcome to tomorrow, but the roots stay near, New maps in the hand, same voice in the ear. The skyline keeps moving, the pocket stays true, Whole worlds in a chip, still I’m talking to you. [Verse 2] The deed to the moon has a price and a code, But the corner store still lets the kids run a tab. We trade little gardens on a screen at the pier, Then pass real tomatoes to the folks standing here. A kid named June draws a ship on the wall, Says she’ll steer past Saturn before the first fall. I tell her, “Keep the sketch; let the paper get worn. The best kind of future remembers its dawn.” [Chorus] Welcome to tomorrow, but the roots stay near, New maps in the hand, same voice in the ear. The skyline keeps moving, the pocket stays true, Whole worlds in a chip, still I’m talking to you. [Verse 3] The city scans faces at every new gate, I duck through the market where the aunties debate. They know who is hungry, who needs a spare coat, No machine can read all the care in a note. I trade a cracked tablet for a hand-built kite, We launch it at dusk from the ferry’s last flight. It climbs past the towers, the clouds, and the signs, A small paper answer to all our designs. [Guest Verse] I learned from the people who taught me to mend, A circuit can carry a message, not a friend. I count every promise the cold numbers miss, A warm cup passed over still matters like this. If the doors close fast, I can find another way, I keep the old names and make room for today. No crown, no command, no perfect machine Can tell you the worth of the hands in between. [Verse 4] Back in the booth with the harbor in view, The kid’s kite returned with a tear and a clue. We patched it with cloth from a jacket I wore, Then sent it back up past the cloud-market floor. Two eras in motion, one careful refrain, A future can flourish and still know its grain. Whatever the code writes across the skyline, We carry each other through year after year. [Chorus] Welcome to tomorrow, but the roots stay near, New maps in the hand, same voice in the ear. The skyline keeps moving, the pocket stays true, Whole worlds in a chip, still I’m talking to you. [Outro] The ferry pulls out; June waves from the rail. The kite holds its shape in the salt-heavy gale. Tomorrow can wait while the old streets shine through. Keep a place at the table. I’m saving one for you.
