I keep my hands clean
Because they remember everything
Every shortcut hums
Every lie leaves a residue

Parallel tracks
Steel convinced they’d never touch
Promise welded into distance
Faith outsourced to geometry

I learned early
Truth sharpens the outline of a man
A clean cut through fog
A debt you actually finish paying

They said bend it
Just a little heat, just a little spin
But heat makes distortion
And spin and "or" makes a prison

I watched crowds rehearse sincerity
Like a safety drill
I watched power dress itself
As inevitability
Parallel tracks
Each sleeper stamped with good intentions
Each mile a quiet agreement
To not ask where this goes

[drop]
Then the land buckled
History coughed
The map admitted error
And the cross appeared
Not wood
Not blood
Not myth
Just an offer (am I worthy?)
Parallel tracks
Meeting without permission
No chorus
No referee
You choose what you carry through the crossing
Weight reveals allegiance
Speed reveals fear

I don’t claim purity
I'm just an oscillating body
Daily alignment Of word and bone
Say the thing: Even when it costs velocity

Silence is still a statement
It just pays interest later

Parallel tracks meet at the cross
No angels
No applause
Only the sound of metal finally agreeing

[outro]
I step through
Un-armoured
Name intact
Facing forward
If there’s mercy for Mercer
It looks like accuracy
If there’s salvation
It sounds like saying it straight...