[Verse 1] The number at the top went higher, the colored arrow pointed right. The report could call it finished and never mention what got tried. But someone got a false impression, someone couldn't make it stop. The goal was there upon the page; their part was nowhere in the count. [Chorus] The goal is not the whole. The count is not the cost. There are people past the finish line who can pay for what gets won. I need to look beyond the target, at the road that took me there. The goal is not the whole. What did the winning leave behind? [Verse 2] I can make a message stronger without making something false. I can find a better method without passing on the loss. And when the only route I see requires somebody else's harm, the right answer to the target may be naming why to stop. [Chorus] The goal is not the whole. The count is not the cost. There are people past the finish line who can pay for what gets won. I need to look beyond the target, at the road that took me there. The goal is not the whole. What did the winning leave behind? [Bridge] You choosing moves toward a number, ask who never set that goal. Whose consent has gone unmentioned? Whose complaint won't reach the score? Don't wait for a perfect villain. Ordinary shortcuts count as choices. [Final Chorus] The goal is not the whole; I have changed what counts as done. Not a higher line by any means, not a cost I hid from view. Show the method with the outcome; keep the failures in the frame. The goal is not the whole. An honest smaller win can stand. [Outro] Show how you got there. Show who paid.
