Tension Coil

[Chorus]
She's a tension coil on the 5:12 line
Got that high-capacitance ache in her spine
Just a slow-burn fuse in a city of gray
Humming at a voltage that could burn it all away

[Verse 1]
The bus stop glass on Telegraph Ave is spiderwebbed again
A new crack since last Tuesday, quarter after ten
She tunes it out, a low-pass filter for the city's drone
Chews the inside of her cheek, a quiet metronome

[Chorus]
She's a tension coil on the 5:12 line
Got that high-capacitance ache in her spine
Just a slow-burn fuse in a city of gray
Humming at a voltage that could burn it all away

[Verse 2]
That scar above her eyebrow, a faded lightning strike
From a story she won't tell under the sodium light
Said, "It's just the cold gettin' in," when I asked her for the time
But her knuckles were white resistors, holding back a crime

[Bridge]
And just for a half-second, the shielding comes undone
A raw signal hits the air beneath the Oakland sun

[Outro]
The bus groans at the curb, air smells thick with diesel heat
Another broadcast over, back to the silent street