Verse 1

We opened every window

and the heat walked through anyway,

blanketing the cobblestones,

staying till we could not say

where the season ends

and something heavier begins —

the summer asking questions

of the century within.

Chorus

Cities burning in plain sight,

not from flame but from the weight,

what we carry in the open,

what we move through under freight.

We have seen the ships go sideways,

we have seen the young men go —

cities burning in plain sight

under skies we used to know.

Verse 2

Somewhere a shore is crowded

with the ones who crossed the dark,

and somewhere a boy is learning

how to leave a different mark.

And a man who made us laugh once

slips into the quieter ground —

we hold the shape of what he gave us,

still hearing his sound.

Bridge

We are not without our victories —

one outbreak held at bay,

one border of the body

that the science kept at bay.

But the vessels in the shadow

still run their buried routes,

and we watch the heat gauges climbing

and we swallow all our doubts.

Chorus

Cities burning in plain sight,

not from flame but from the weight,

what we carry in the open,

what we move through under freight.

We have seen the ships go sideways,

we have seen the young men go —

cities burning in plain sight

under skies we used to know.

Outro

The Sunday stretches long and slow,

the mercury won't fall.

We sit with what we cannot fix

and answer when they call.

Instrumental Outro

How did it make you feel?

A new song arrives tomorrow.