Library of dust

[Intro — whispered, building, dry guitar tick] Shelved and numbered, shelved and numbered Three thousand five hundred souls Shelved and numbered, shelved and numbered [Verse 1 — The Room — staccato, aggressive] Copper cans in a locked room rotting! Blue-green blooming where the names stopped mattering! Filed away like a debt nobody’s paying State-owned bones and the walls keep saying— [Pre-Chorus — half-time, sinister sway] Nobody came, nobody wrote Nobody claimed the dust in the coat Signed you in and lost the key Cured you into property [Chorus — big, melodic, mournful] Oh, the copper’s turning ocean Grief becoming mineral Every soul a locked devotion No one ever came at all We were somebody! We were somebody! Before the number swallowed the name [Verse 2 — The Intake — staccato] Sign the paper! Sign it, sign it! Feeble-minded, wayward, “for her own good,” right? Husband’s word and a judge’s pen Door swings shut, never opens again Laundry, kitchen, work the land for free — therapy! They called it therapy! [Verse 3 — The Treatments — frantic] Ice bath baptism! Insulin dreams! Needle in the eyelid, no one hears the screams Scoop out the sorrow, scrape it off the bone Send her back smiling and nobody’s home A calmer patient! A quieter wing! They hollowed out the choir but the halls still sing [Pre-Chorus — variation, tighter] Nobody came, nobody wrote Nobody heard a word you spoke Signed you in and lost the key Cured you into property [Verse 4 — The Board — menacing staccato] Board convenes! Gavel down! “Unfit to breed” in a paper gown Cut the line! Prune the tree! Building better people, involuntarily! Science on the letterhead, scripture in the vein — purify! Sterilize! Do it all again! [Verse 5 — The Breakfast — carnival energy, unhinged] Eggs on the tray! Eat it up, eat it up! Powder in the kitchen and they never checked the cup! Forty-seven gone by the morning bell Breakfast in the ward on the front steps of hell! Volts to the temple till the memories flee — they filmed a movie here! Come see! Come see! [Chorus] Oh, the copper’s turning ocean Grief becoming mineral Every soul a locked devotion No one ever came at all We were somebody! We were somebody! Before the number swallowed the name [Bridge — sudden quiet, clean vocal, almost tender] I had a mother once I had a window facing west They wrote my name in a ledger And the ledger did the rest… Nineteen-seventeen to nineteen-eighty-three Twenty-six hundred branches off the family tree Changed the name of the board so it read polite “Social Protection” — sleep well tonight… [Verse 6 — The Discovery — slower, heavier groove] Two thousand four, they open the door Turquoise blooming on a copper shore The metal wept what no one would Corrosion mourning where the family should Photograph the canisters, hang ‘em in a gallery — beautiful now! Now that you can’t hear the screaming! [Final Chorus — full explosion] We were somebody! WE WERE SOMEBODY! Before the number swallowed the name Say the name! Say the name! Say the name! SAY THE NAME! [Outro — half-time, bitter, decaying to whisper] Built you a wall with a fountain out front Reading off the names like it settles the debt A century of silence and a ribbon to cut Some of you went home… most of you haven’t yet (whispered, fading) Sorry for the children that were never born Sorry for the children that were never born Shelved and numbered… shelved and numbered…