02. Crystal Ball Day

[Verse 1] In the gypsy den of Monday light, A crystal ball coughed up my name. It did not show a golden throne, It showed my socks beside the flame. Where have you been these last two years? The glass asked softly, almost kind. Where did you mean to travel, Lex, Before the locked doors ate your mind? [Pre-Chorus] Who did you choose to sit beside? Who stayed although the spirit knew? What change arrived when change was real? What change is still demanding you? [Explosive Chorus] I saw tomorrow looking back at me, Not as a king, but as a man set free. He had my voice but he used it clean, Gold in the future, dark green in the dream. Crystal ball day, do not flatter my scars; Show me the work between here and the stars. [Verse 2] The future-self wore ordinary shoes, But conflict did not bend his neck. He earned his bread with clearer hands, And left fewer rooms a wreck. He had a hobby made of dawn, A job that did not eat his face, A home with laughter in the walls, And discipline arranged like grace. [Quirky Refrain - playful but elegant] One day I will alphabetise the thunder, Teach my habits how to dance. Put regret inside a teacup, Give the better self a chance. [Bridge - oracle voices] Female voice: what do you smell in the better room? Choir: what does your future say of conflict? Lex: I do not worship pain. [Verse 3 - questionnaire waltz] What hobbies has the better man reclaimed from ash and noise? What morning does he enter without bargaining his poise? Does he answer insult softly, or with thunder under law? Does he spend his nervous lightning on the purpose that he saw? The crystal did not flatter me, it itemised the cost: Every gorgeous future has a ledger for the lost. [Build - future choir] Female voice: what will you change by sunrise? Male voices: what will you keep by night? Lex: I will not marry fantasy If action does not make it right. [Final Chorus - sing once] I saw tomorrow looking back at me, Not as a king, but as a man set free. If the mirror is holy, it must tell me true: The miracle day begins with what I do. [Outro - 4 bars, no vocals] [END PART 1] [Verse 3] The ball became a small green moon, The moon became a rented room, The room became a courtroom where My weaker habits faced their doom. Not doom like fire, doom like choice, A calendar with teeth and wings; The future does not rescue men Who only dream of future things. [Pre-Chorus - rising] So train the mind, but tell it truth; Rehearse the self, but pay the price. A perfect self is counterfeit If mercy never enters twice. [Chorus - larger, all voices] I saw tomorrow looking back at me, Not as a ghost, but as responsibility. He said: become what you keep asking for; The crystal is useless if you will not cross the door. Crystal ball day, let the old excuses fall; The future is a mirror, but the present is the call. [Surreal Break - no vocals for 4 bars, then Lex] A suitcase full of possible mornings Barked like a dog at the foot of the bed. The wallpaper bloomed into maps of my earning, And every red X turned gold instead. [Verse 4 - surreal discipline] The future-self was washing cups in a cathedral sink, While my old excuses circled like goldfish learning to think. He said: do not hate the broken man, appoint him to the task; Give him shoes, give him hours, give him truth without a mask. Then every impossible castle became one honest brick, And the clock stopped being cruel when the hand began to click. [Climb - choir of possible selves] Rise without pretending. Change without disguise. The prophecy is practical When the body finally tries. [Moral Refrain] Self-awareness is not wisdom until behaviour changes. Hope is not a palace until discipline arranges. Dreams are not divinity when action is delayed; The miracle is practised, not merely displayed. [Final Chorus - repeat once only] I saw tomorrow looking back at me, Not as a king, but as a man set free. The better life was not a spell in the glass; It was the next right step I nearly let pass. [Outro - brief instrumental, no vocals] [END SONG]