The Ink Remains

[Intro]
[Verse]
Clock strikes twelve and the echo is hollow
Tracing the steps that the shadows will follow
Mop bucket rolling on marble and stone
In a kingdom of silence I sit on the throne
Fluorescent flicker a rhythmic delay
Sweeping the ghosts of a forgotten day
Dust on the rafters it settles like snow
On the stories they told us we shouldn't know
Empty the bins filled with paper and pride
Where the secrets of centuries decided to hide
I’m the night watchman of wisdom and light
Keeping the candle flame burning and bright
[Hook]
They can burn all the pages
Lock 'em in cages
But the ink stays deep in the bone
Yeah the truth finds a way back home
[Verse]
Cardboard cartons are stacked to the sky
Under the gaze of a glass-covered eye
I find a remnant a fragment of prose
A poem about how the wild briar grows
Redacted by ink with a heavy-handed stroke
Turning the fire of thought into smoke
But I read between lines where the census is thin
Finding the spirit beneath the thick skin
They try to erase what they can't understand
Building a castle on shifting white sand
But words are like seeds in the belly of earth
Waiting for winter to give them their birth
[Chorus]
The ink remains when the pages are torn
In the quiet of night the wisdom is reborn
They can lock up the doors and black out the lines
But the truth is a light that eternally shines
Yeah the ink remains in the cracks of the floor
Whispering secrets behind every door
It’s the pulse of the past in a world gone cold
A story that’s waiting to finally be told
[Post-Chorus]
Let it breathe
Let it grow
More than they’ll ever know
Yeah the ink remains
[Bridge]
Upright bass walking a lonely path
Avoiding the aftermath of the censor's wrath
Trumpet is wailing a blue-toned prayer
For every lost volume that used to be there
Memories fade like a vintage photograph
But the soul leaves a permanent autograph
[Verse]
Collective amnesia a systemic design
To keep us from reading the signs on the spine
But I am the janitor keeper of keys
Gathering whispers on midnight breezes
I see the names that they tried to delete
Now they’re just echoes on a desolate street
I pack up the boxes with careful intent
Knowing exactly where every word went
They think it’s just trash in a bin by the door
But I’m building a library under the floor
So let the vinyl crackle and the rhythm stay slow
I’ve got a lifetime of learning to go
[Hook]
They can burn all the pages
Lock 'em in cages
But the ink stays deep in the bone
Yeah the truth finds a way back home
[Outro]