Keeps Time
4 a.m.
The world is quiet. but my bones already know better. Someone calls for me. The day begins before I ever arrive in it.
I rise, because someone always needs rising. I move, because the house remembers every task I forget. I breathe, in halves and pieces. I promise myself rest, and time answers with silence.
Keep time… keep time… She keeps time… I keep time… Tick—tick… tick—tick… I carry. I carry.
There’s dishes in the sink and a ghost in the hallway and a memory at the back of my throat. The children turn like planets. The laundry waits like judgment. The clock whispers, Again. Again. Again.
I rise for them. I rise again. I fall for them. I fall again. I keep time. Time keeps me.
Mmm—mmm…
ohh—ahh—mmm…
Carry it, carry it, carry it—
Lift, Drop, Lift, Drop, Lift, Lift, Drop, Lift,Drop
My body remembers what my mind can’t hold. My heart keeps the rhythm even when the music slows. I move in circles around the same sun, and every day I swear I’ll rest when it’s done.
She keeps time… I keep time… I keep time… Tick—tick… tick—tick… again… again… again…
I rest. But the clock… keeps time, without asking.
You Give Ice A Bad name
Verse 1
Do you remember when ice was good. Skating rinks and frozen food. Hot summer days, swimming pools. ice in your glass just to keep it cool. It used to crack, it used to shine. A little relief in hard times. Now it’s something else entirely. Got a badge and a very short memory.
Pre-Chorus
Wish it was just a reality show. Change the channel, let it go. But the truth keeps breaking through. And it don’t look free like it used to.
Chorus
You give ice a bad name. Wasn’t born this way, but here we are again. You give ice a bad name. Cold hands, hard hearts, playing power games. Used to mean relief, now it means pain. Yeah, you give ice a bad name.
Verse 2
Stuck in a time of twisted truth. Lies gassed up as what’s best for you. Pride talking loud like it’s the law. Selling fear as freedom for us all. Just under the surface, what do you see? A hunger that shows no mercy. Hearts so small, rage so wide. Even Scrooge would change his mind.
Pre-Chorus 2
Break and take and push and shove. Shoot first, say it’s all for love. No invitations, no welcome sign. Just fences where we drew the line.
Chorus
You give ice a bad name. Wasn’t born this way, but here we are again. You give ice a bad name. Cold hands, hard hearts, playing power games. Used to mean relief, now it means pain. Yeah, you give ice a bad name.
Bridge
They call it freedom. But it sounds like fear. Calling it safety. While people disappear. Liberty lives in open hands. Freedom walks where truth still stands.
Final Chorus
You give ice a bad name. Wrapped in flags and moral claims. You give ice a bad name. History’s watching who we became. Used to keep us cool in the heat of the flame. Now you give Ice. You give ice. You give ice a bad name.
Outro
We See it Clearly. And We Rise. We Stand Together. And We Rise
Swallow Glass
Verse
The courtroom clock kept perfect time. While they spoke in careful tones. Stacks of files and folded hands.
Deciding futures not their own. They talked about reunion plans. About patience, peace, and paths. Like broken homes were simple things. You fix with signatures and facts.
Chorus
They said you're gonna swallow glass. Sometimes that's what it takes. Like pain’s just part of living. Like hearts are meant to break. They talk about tomorrow. Like it's written in the past. They call it justice in that room. But it tastes like shards of glass.
Verse
I signed the forms, I kept the dates. I walked the road they laid. Every step they asked of me. I followed just the way they said. But every door I reached to open. Led to one more test to pass. And every time I crossed the line. They moved the finish back
Chorus
They said you're gonna swallow glass. Sometimes that's what it takes. Like pain’s just part of living. Like hearts are meant to break. They talk about tomorrow. Like it's written in the past. They call it justice in that room. But it tastes like shards of glass.
Verse
They said I should have waited. Said I should have made a call. But when a storm is in the house. You don't wait behind a wall. The children sleeping in my home. Their fear was mine to face. They call it acting on my own. I call it keeping us safe
Bridge
Maybe the system’s just a hallway. Where the wounded learn to wait. While the ones who never bled at all. Debate the weight of fate.
They measure pain in quiet rooms. With rules they learned by heart. But mercy doesn’t live inside. A neatly numbered chart
Final Chorus
They said you're gonna swallow glass. Sometimes that's what it takes. I said that's a lot to bear. For a life already scraped. They write it down as progress. While the wounded do the math. They call it justice in that room. But it still cuts like glass.
Gaslit Country
Verse 1
We were raised on handshakes, flags in the wind. Front porch promises, written in pen. They said trust the voices behind the door. Said don’t ask questions, that’s what faith is for. They blurred the lines till the truth felt thin. Called it freedom, called it discipline. Told us doubt was a personal flaw. While they rewrote the rules and moved the law.
Pre-Chorus
You start wondering if it’s just you. If the ground really is shifting too. But something in your chest won’t quit. Keeps tapping out the counterfeit.
Chorus
Living in a gaslit country, gaslit, unfit. Smiles in the daylight, but no true grit. They say don’t believe what you see or feel But I know what’s real. Gaslit country, gaslit, unfit. Power talks loud when it needs you to submit. You can bend the story, twist the script. But you can’t unteach what we have lived.
Verse 2
It’s not just thrones and televised spin. It’s kitchen tables, lovers, friends. It’s I didn’t say that, you’re irrational. You’re remembering wrong and emotional. You start shrinking just to keep the peace. Carry their version till you can barely breathe. Then one day the mirror disagrees. Says no, and the truth breaks free.
Pre-Chorus
That wasn’t love, that wasn’t care. That was control dressed up as prayer. And I’m done mistaking shame for truth. I’m done handing over proof.
Chorus
Living in a gaslit country, gaslit, unfit. From the halls of power to where we sit. They say don’t believe what you see. Tell you who you’re allowed to be. Gaslit country, gaslit, unfit. Same old game, same dirty tricks. But something’s cutting through the noise. Every time we choose our voice.
Bridge
There’s a moment when the fog lifts slow. When your spine remembers what it knows. When maybe I’m wrong turns into no. A dangerous thing for those in control. They call you woke like it’s a curse. I call it seeing clearly first. They’ll call you angry, call you weak. Call you every name but free. But the lie can’t live where the light gets in. And we’re not going back again.
Pre Chorus
I know what I saw. I know what I felt. I know what was taken. I know myself.
Final Chorus
Living in a gaslit country, gaslit, unfit. But we’re done playin into it. You can tell your story all day long. But we’re not carrying it on. Gaslit country, gaslit, unfit. Standing here, done with it. Yeah, they tried, we’re still here. We’re done with it.
Outro
You can’t gaslight a truth that’s learned to speak. You can’t un-know what wakes you free.
