Known Tolerances

[Verse 1]
You watch the crane on the Battersea site,
Trace its arc through the fading light.
You do the maths on the back of a till receipt,
The tensile strength of hollowed-out concrete.
It’s a new kind of prayer, a new kind of grace,
Finding the logic of a failing space.

[Chorus]
And you test the world for its known tolerances,
Measure the shear wall, count the consequences.
Mapping the give before the final collapse,
Anything to not look back.

[Verse 2]
Top deck of the 88 bus, last Tuesday night,
The damp wool smell and the sodium light.
You feel the chassis flex over the street,
A hairline fracture you were glad to meet.
You said, "This part of town's a concrete mistake,"
I didn't know which foundation would break.

[Chorus]
And you test the world for its known tolerances,
Measure the shear wall, count the consequences.
Mapping the give before the final collapse,
Anything to not look back.

[Bridge]
It was a load-bearing silence holding up the ceiling,
A blueprint hiding what you were feeling.
But a heart’s not rebar, it’s not a retaining wall,
There is no calculation for the fall.

[Outro]
Just the give.
Before the collapse.