[Intro - mop wheel, upright piano] [Lead] Five forty-two. House lights honest. [Verse 1] Red looks brown beneath the work lights. Silver rail shows every print. Someone counts the quiet register. Someone logs where power went. Shoes go back into the canvas zipper. Black cord circles elbow, palm. One lost earring waits beside the speaker. The room is learning how to calm. [Pre-Chorus] No flattering angle. No color left to lend. I was real inside the lighting. I am real when lighting ends. [Chorus] Dawn has no neon, still I know what I made. The room can lose its color. It cannot take my name. Dawn has no neon, gray-blue at the door. I can leave the light behind me without leaving what it was for. [Verse 2 - Lead and Staff Voice] [Staff Voice] Amber archive marked interrupted. Safety record sealed and signed. [Lead] Good. Put the question in the morning. Do not let it fall behind. Coffee hisses near the bar sink. Door staff finds the missing tie. I laugh because my left boot's winning an argument against my right. No revelation in the mirror, just tired eyes and glitter glue. I know the craft that made the image. I know the person carried through. [Chorus] Dawn has no neon, still I know what I made. The room can lose its color. It cannot take my name. Dawn has no neon, gray-blue at the door. I can leave the light behind me without leaving what it was for. [Instrumental Walk - piano, Rhodes, cello, footsteps] [Soft staff hum] Mm-oh. Mm-oh. Morning on the wet road. [Bridge - two voices] [Staff Voice] Same corner? [Lead] One more block. [Staff Voice] Same time? [Lead] Ask me after sleep. [Both, smiling] Fair. [Final Chorus] Dawn needs no neon. I know the name I keep. The room held one chosen version. The rest comes home with me. Dawn needs no neon. First train through the rain. The door knew what to call me. I leave knowing my own name. [Outro - camera station] [Lead] Secondary lens: mute. [One soft physical click; no camera ping follows] [Upright piano plays E - F-sharp - B] [Footsteps separate at a street corner]
