August Voltage

[Verse 1]
The Lafayette coney stand was sweating in the sun
August fourteenth, 2003, before the grid was done.
The hum from the transformers felt different on the skin
A low-grade fever, Anna, where does the rot begin?

[Chorus]
We never thought the light was something we could lose
Just a dusty, given thing, like the scuffs on my old shoes.

[Verse 2]
"Just the heat," my father said, wiping down the Ford's chrome trim
Heard it on the radio, some problem way out on a limb.
We were just a new-grafted branch, waiting for the shock
A transport-trauma flicker for the whole damn city block.

[Chorus]
We never thought the light was something we could lose
Just a dusty, given thing, like the scuffs on my old shoes.

[Instrumental Breakdown]
(Beat switches. Afro-house groove with a deep, pulsing bassline takes over for 20 seconds. No vocals.)

[Bridge]
And the quiet afterwards was a different kind of dust
Settled on the ledges of a city you can't trust.
That's the year I started, you know... chasing my own blackout night.

[Outro]
Now the Ambassador Bridge is lit up, a fragile, steady line.
Your hand is in mine.