Torque & Decorum

[Verse 1]
The Kwik Trip coffee stain on the zoning map,
The clock on the wall just clicked past seven flat.
A woman knits a line of hunter green,
Debating the shear stress on a civic dream.

[Chorus]
And this is the polite machinery,
Humming low, a quiet decree.
A gear-slip grace for you and me,
The torque and the decorum.

[Verse 2]
The councilman's smile, a carefully calibrated line,
He says, "I understand the structural design..."
My uncle smooths the crease out of his knee,
A master class in what it costs to be seen.

[Bridge]
And for a second, the signal's clean—I see the crack,
And all the quiet weight we can't give back.
I wanna scream the engine's seized, the bearings shot to hell,
But you just squeeze my hand, a silent warning bell.

[Chorus]
(Key change up, vocals are strained, almost whispered)
And this is the polite machinery,
Humming low, a quiet decree.
A gear-slip grace for you and me,
The torque and the decorum.

[Outro]
Just the low static of the evening news.
A hairline fracture in the long-view.