Systemic Murmur

[Verse 1]
The ComEd text glows terminal amber, it’s 8:59.
This whole city’s breath held in the copper wire spine.
The air’s got the texture of a fever dream, thick on the glass.
I can hear the last cycle of the Kenmore, spinning too fast.
That low hum of a million coolers about to confess.

[Chorus]
And when the whole grid goes to cardiac arrest
(cardiac arrest)
We’ll trace the slow collapse from east to west.
(you and I)
Just watching the city flatline from our nest.

[Verse 2]
Your hand finds my wrist, checking for a pulse I guess.
"Pressure’s good," you say, and smooth the wrinkles on my press.
The insulin in the fridge is counting its final hours, a quiet dare.
And all the bronze streetlights are about to become thin air.
All the noise we ever made hangs in the static here.

[Chorus]
And when the whole grid goes to cardiac arrest
(cardiac arrest)
We’ll trace the slow collapse from east to west.
(you and I)
Just watching the city flatline from our nest.

[Bridge]
The static's coming for the sermon on the radio dial.
Just the sound of our own blood beating for a little while.

[Outro]
Three seconds... two... the streetlights start to sigh...
Just your shadow... and the sky...