Marginalia

[Intro]
[Verse]
The clock hits ten
Grab the mop again
Fluorescent lights flicker
The silence gets thicker
I walk the aisles of oak
Where the old spirits spoke
In a physics book spine
I find a thin line
A name in the corner
Not a ghost or a mourner
Just a student in '84
Solving laws on the floor
A pencil-etched equation
For a private occasion
Gravity defined in the lead
By a hand long since fled
I trace the graphite curve
With a steady, quiet nerve
[Pre-Chorus]
It’s a secret map
In the history gap
Where the small things stay
While the gold fades away
[Chorus]
It’s the ink in the margin
The soul’s quiet bargain
Small notes left behind
In the back of the mind
No gold on the nameplate
No keys to the main gate
Just a ripple in the sea
Of our shared history
[Post-Chorus]
Keep the floors bright
In the middle of the night
Tracing every line
Feeling just fine
[Verse]
Next shelf is the verse
Both a blessing and curse
Found a sonnet by Donne
Under the midnight sun
Someone circled a word
A truth I never heard
A grocery list on the page
From a different age
Milk, bread, and a prayer
Left in the dusty air
They studied the rhyme
To outrun their own time
I buff the linoleum floor
Near the poetry door
Thinking 'bout the hands
That made these demands
On the paper and ink
Giving us room to think
[Pre-Chorus]
It’s a secret map
In the history gap
Where the small things stay
While the gold fades away
[Chorus]
It’s the ink in the margin
The soul’s quiet bargain
Small notes left behind
In the back of the mind
No gold on the nameplate
No keys to the main gate
Just a ripple in the sea
Of our shared history
[Bridge]
No statues in the park
Just a mark in the dark
No trumpets in the street
Just the rhythm of the beat
Ordinary lives leave a trace
In this hollowed-out space
From the student to the clerk
It’s the beauty in the work
[Verse]
I’m the keeper of dust
Of the iron and rust
I see the coffee stains
Like the blood in the veins
Of a neighborhood heart
That refused to depart
Every smudge is a sign
That the stars still align
For the ones who stayed quiet
Amidst the city's riot
They didn't need the fame
To validate their name
They just needed to know
Where the heavy thoughts go
So I lock up the gate
And I leave it to fate
[Chorus]
It’s the ink in the margin
The soul’s quiet bargain
Small notes left behind
In the back of the mind
No gold on the nameplate
No keys to the main gate
Just a ripple in the sea
Of our shared history
[Outro]