Safety Glass

[Verse 1]
The Monday sun hits the scuff on my face
Left by a wedding ring, October on Clay Street.
Her file is a blueprint, a bridge to nowhere,
she’s tracing the stress points with a desperate stare.

[Pre-Chorus]
The hum from the ballast is a low C drone
The dust motes are dancing in orbits, alone
The ink on the paper is starting to bleed
She's planning a future from one little seed
of a plea, a request, a demand, a command
while the clock on the wall sweeps the face of the land...

[Chorus]
Am I just a window, or am I a wall?
Does the sound of a promise get through me at all?

[Verse 2]
He says, "Ma'am, the directive came down on the fifth,"
a statute so solid it's become a new myth.
I feel the low tremor, her foot starts to tap,
a hair-thin new fault line appears on the map.

[Pre-Chorus]
The heat from her palm leaves a print on my skin
A temporary map of the state that she's in
The ink on the paper is starting to bleed
She's planning a future from one little seed
of a plea, a request, a demand, a command
while the clock on the wall sweeps the face of the land...

[Chorus]
Am I just a window, or am I a wall?
Does the sound of a promise get through me at all?

[Bridge]
This whole damn city's a circuit, a grid,
but a glitch in the conduit keeps the empathy hid.

[Chorus]
Am I just a window, or am I a wall?
Does the sound of a promise get through me at all?

[Outro]
The janitor’s spray smells of lemon and bleach.
Another day's echo just out of my reach.