**Poly-Ticks** [Acoustic Intro – gentle fingerpicking guitar, birds in background] [Verse 1] [soft, serene voice, gentle acoustic guitar] I wander the woods where the light filters green, pine resin and freedom ride soft on the breeze. Roots intertwine, branching wherever they please, the moss finds its way without asking permission. The forest just works in its quiet design — no orders, no rulers, no committee assigned. No meeting was held to decide how it grows — it simply grows. Imagine that. Funny how that goes. [Verse 2] [still calm and warm] The brook finds its path without orders or fees, the deer drift like dreams through cathedrals of trees. Birds trade their songs and the fungi their sweets, nothing is taxed and nothing competes. Not one of them voted, not one raised a hand — yet everything flourishes, perfectly planned. I breathe it all in, this beautiful dream… [Sudden Drop – distortion kicks in] [Chorus 1] [aggressive, chaotic, shouting, fast driving drums + distorted guitar] Then come the bites — those blood-sucking mosquitoes, and the ticks — one or two, you could almost forgive. But never just one — they arrive in a swarm, they latch on in silence, they settle in warm. A few become poly, poly turns thick, poly-poly-poly — poly-tick, poly-tick — **POLY-TICKS — POLITICS!** [Verse 3] [tempo slows, calm acoustic guitar returns, slightly ironic tone] The canopy sways in its natural law, each creature contributing, none keeping score. No one’s in charge, there’s no debt to obey — just life in abundance, doing it its way. No one campaigned for the crown of “Tree King” — the oak is just oak, and it’s perfectly free. I walk ever lighter, my spirit set free… [Chorus 2] [explosive transition – furious folk-punk, frantic accordion + drums] Then come the bites — those blood-sucking mosquitoes, and the ticks — they cling and they burrow, they never let go. Not two, not ten — they’re poly, you’ll find, they’re under your skin and deep in your mind. Poly gets faster, poly won’t quit, poly-poly-poly-poly-poly-tick — **POLY-TICKS — POLITICS!!** (...and they winter inside you, returning each spring.) [Bridge] [theatrical, building tension, rhythmic spoken-word intensity] How does the forest stay easy and bright, when nothing’s enforced and nothing’s held tight? Yet scratch at a tick and it digs itself deeper — the harder you fight, the worse grows the fever. Funny how it never asks to attach, it simply appears — already latched. It promises balance, it promises care, then drains you while swearing the bite isn’t there. It swears this is temporary, just for a while — every tick says that, with the same crooked smile. [heavy drum roll] You vote it away, you think you are free — but another one crawls up the very same tree. [Guitar Solo – fast, chaotic fiddle + distorted rock guitar] [Chorus 3 – Final] [maximum energy, gang vocals, unhinged anthem] Then come the bites — those blood-sucking mosquitoes, and the ticks — they’re swollen and smug, and they’re nowhere near done. One tick, two ticks, a hundred, a swarm — poly is thriving, already warm. Poly-poly-poly, it feeds as it grows, poly-poly-poly-poly — nobody knows — **POLY-TICKS — POLITICS!!!** [Outro] [music suddenly cuts out – single quiet acoustic strum, sarcastic whisper] How perfect this forest, how pure it could be, without all the parasites living off me. No mosquitoes… and no poly-ticks. [Fade out]
