Capitol lights flicker, deadline tasting skin,
A cross-aisle handshake pulls the fuse back in.
They split the homeland fire from the rest of the load,
A short bridge built while the big wheels roll.
After fatal shots in Minneapolis from badges gone astray,
Voices forced the carve-out, and the deal held sway.
Sources:
Tick, tick, the world keeps leaning,
Steel on the water, cold winds keening.
Lines in the sand, lines in the clock,
We ride the storm and we will not stop.
A voice from the podium says make a deal or bleed,
Sends a massive armada through the desert sea.
The Lincoln leads the thunder to a narrow strait,
Tehran answers steady, says pull the trigger, wait.
Whispers in the palace say the first shot writes the war,
Every hull and headline scraping at the shore.
Sources:
Tick, tick, the world keeps leaning,
Steel on the water, cold winds keening.
Lines in the sand, lines in the clock,
We ride the storm and we will not stop.
In Brussels, pens are heavy, an old guard gets a brand,
The Guard is named a terror in a unified stand.
France turns the page at last, the list grows long,
After streets ran red where the brave stood strong.
Tehran calls it reckless, warns of shadowed costs,
Diplomats trade warnings for the bridges that were lost.
Sources:
Tick, tick, the world keeps leaning,
Steel on the water, cold winds keening.
Lines in the sand, lines in the clock,
We ride the storm and we will not stop.
The Clock moves closer, closer than before,
Naming fire and fever, plague at the door.
Cold metal warheads, oceans out of breath,
Thinking wires whisper lies of life and death.
A quiet vow from watchmen guarding the spark:
Every second matters in this widening dark.
Sources:
Tick, tick, the world keeps leaning,
Steel on the water, cold winds keening.
Lines in the sand, lines in the clock,
We ride the storm and we will not stop.
The South draws shutters as the white wind forms,
Sirens in the Carolinas, salt in the storms.
Tides climb porches from the Palmetto line,
The mountains spin blizzards into tangles of pine.
A state calls emergency, Florida holds its breath,
After a week of heartbreak, ice still writes its deaths.
Sources:
Tick, tick, the world keeps leaning,
Steel on the water, cold winds keening.
Lines in the sand, lines in the clock,
We ride the storm and we will not stop.
In glassy towers, badges click and fade,
Another wave of boxes on the elevator blade.
Layers shaved thinner in the name of the new,
Gen engines humming where the coders once drew.
Warehouses rumble while the suites go still,
A brief door cracks open for an inside refill.
Sources:
Tick, tick, the world keeps leaning,
Steel on the water, cold winds keening.
Raise up your hands, turn up the shock,
Hands on the trigger, hands on the clock.
Tick, tick, midnight’s waiting,
We drown it out with amplifiers blazing.
Lines in the sand, lines in the clock,
We bend those hands back, we will not stop.
