Kilowatt Prayer

[Verse 1]
The power cut at 3:19, same time the generator for Korle-Bu choked.
Whole of Accra hold e breath, Pa, like a bad joke.
I'm checking the rebar you left behind in this half-finished block.
To see if the city you built still get backbone on the clock.
The heat from the pavement still breathes on my skin, slow and thick.
Wondering if your foundation was for a house, or just a trick.

[Chorus]
Oh, the city sleep now, e-be quiet design
(3/4 time signature for this line only)
Just a billion phone screens, your light and my light.
Oh, the silence get weight, e-be silver and grey
We dey send kilowatt prayer, hoping for day.

[Verse 2]
Aunty Grace on her balcony, third floor, she dey watch the dark sea.
She tell me last week, "Kojo, this pressure for rent be a slow-leaking roof, you see."
Tonight she no talk, just watching the waves where the fishing boats hide.
Smell of salt and of nothing, with the whole world quiet inside.
Her face is a small moon, lit by the glow from her palm.
Another soul waiting for the grid to sound its alarm.

[Chorus]
Oh, the city sleep now, e-be quiet design
(3/4 time signature for this line only)
Just a billion phone screens, your light and my light.
Oh, the silence get weight, e-be silver and grey
We dey send kilowatt prayer, hoping for day.

[Bridge]
You used to say, "Build straight, make God be your plumb line."
But the ground here dey shift, chale, this new design… it's not fine.
This scaffolding we climb is holding up nothing but sky.

[Outro]
3:20 AM.
Still no signal home.