Losing the Spark

Two boys playing with their time machine in Mom's Basement. [Verse 1] Copper ribs and ozone breath Basement floor as cold as death Six years small in a flight suit shell Jeff is ringing the silver bell Knuckles white on the iron gear "One second there is a lifetime here" Lever slams and the light goes blind Leaving the boyhood years behind. [Verse 2] The static clears in a heavy pulse A different man, a different pulse Late forties skin in a seamless grey Breathing the air of a buried day Jeff is gasping against the wall "Did we win? Did we have it all? Blueprints, data, the gift of age— Tell me we broke the final cage." [CHORUS] Oh, the future is a heavy weight A golden silence at the gate The arrow blunted, the garden still A monument of human will We stopped the clock to save the soul But lost the spark that made us whole. [Verse 3] Graham is tracing the rusted steel A world where nothing is left to feel "I saw the summit, I saw the end A road that has no further bend Every story is written dry In a heaven where we forgot to die A closed circuit, a museum floor Where no one looks for the open door." [BREAK] (Dissonant humming, tribal percussion swells, the sound of electrical arcing) [Verse 4] Jeff is shaking his brother’s frame "Give me the numbers, give me the name! I’ve sacrificed my youth for this To stand on the edge of the great abyss!" Graham is looking with hollow eyes At the man who would craft the great disguise Words are a failed technology now To break the cycle and break the vow. [CHORUS] Oh, the future is a heavy weight A golden silence at the gate The arrow blunted, the garden still A monument of human will We stopped the clock to save the soul But lost the spark that made us whole. [Verse 5] "Jeff," he says in a melodic tone "The options were two, and I stand alone I could remember and bring the key Or have my memory wiped from me I chose the total wipe tonight To keep the shadow from the light But kept the reason I had to go To prune the root before it grows." [OUTRO] (The rhythm slows to a singular, heartbeat thud) Graham reaches for the copper bars Connecting earth to the distant stars His hand is locking on Jeff’s throat The final line that the traveler wrote [Silence] Laundry basket hits the floor Mother standing at the door Ozone, ash, and a world of dread Two little boys lying perfectly dead.