[Verse 1]
Coffee stain on the lesson plan
Blue ink smudge on my wrist
They’re half awake in their hoodies
Scrolling past everything I missed
Whiteboard ghosts from the last class
Old dates no one erased
I’m twenty-three and pretending
Like I know how the world’s gonna taste
[Chorus]
Hey
I’m just learning while I’m teaching
Face to face with the future every day
They ask me how it’s all gonna turn out
I laugh and say we’ll figure out a way
Passing notes and passing decades
Still stuck in the same old halls
In 2026 I’m standing
So small in these big four walls
[Verse 2]
Fire drill in the drizzle
They sneak photos of the sky
One kid talks about oceans
And how fast they’re running dry
Another hums through the homework
Says he writes beats at night
I tell her her poems are brilliant
She shrugs and won’t meet my eyes
[Chorus]
Yeah
I’m just learning while I’m teaching
Face to face with the future every day
They ask me how it’s all gonna turn out
I laugh and say we’ll figure out a way
Passing notes and passing decades
Still stuck in the same old halls
In 2026 I’m standing
So small in these big four walls
[Bridge]
They think I’ve got the answers
I barely pay my rent
Still grading dreams in the margins
“Good point” where my courage went
But when the room gets quiet
And one brave hand goes up slow
I see a life I might believe in
In a voice that doesn’t know
[Chorus]
We’re just learning while we’re teaching
Face to face with the future every day
You ask me how it’s all gonna turn out
I swear that we’ll invent a better way
Passing notes and passing decades
Still singing in these painted halls
In 2026 we’re standing
So tall in these thin old walls