Blueprints in the Dirt

I thought you’d find me by the smoke and the sound

By the broken rails and the burned-out ground

I counted days like they were stepping stones

But no one’s coming down these roads

I hear your name in the hammer and steel

In every shape I pretend is real

But the lines I draw don’t lead you here

They just make my cage more clear

And I kept saying, just hold on

Like time was something we could lean on

But I saw them marching in a borrowed way

Heard my world in the words they say

They’re learning us, they’re wearing our skin

Turning our strength into where we’ve been

So I won’t wait for a light or a sign

I’ll carve a path out of what is mine

If I can’t run, then I’ll redesign

Every lock, every wall, every line

I’m getting out—quiet as breath

Building a way they won’t suspect

There’s a man with a voice I used to trust

Teaching monsters to move like us

Step by step and line by line

Turning chaos into design

And I felt something in me break

Not fear—just something I can’t unmake

If they can learn, then we can lose

And waiting here is how we choose

I stopped praying for a change of tide

Started measuring what I could hide

’Cause I saw them marching in a borrowed way

Heard my world in the words they say

They’re learning us, they’re wearing our skin

Turning our strength into where we’ve been

So I won’t wait for a light or a sign

I’ll carve a path out of what is mine

If I can’t run, then I’ll redesign

Every lock, every wall, every line

I’m getting out—quiet as breath

Building a way they won’t suspect

No paper trails, no written plans

Just numbers buried in my hands

In every tool, in every frame

A map that never says its name

If I look lost, if I obey

It’s just another part I play

’Cause freedom doesn’t shout or fight

Sometimes it’s hidden out of sight

(oh-oh-oh)

Count the steps, don’t miss a beat

(oh-oh-oh)

Every pattern is a key

(oh-oh-oh)

What they gave, I’ll re-align

Turn their system into mine

I saw them marching in a borrowed way

Now I’m done with the games we play

They can take the steel, the fire, the land

But they won’t take the way I plan

So I won’t wait for a light or a sign

I’ll carve a path out of what is mine

If I can’t run, then I’ll redesign

Every lock, every wall, every line

I’m getting out—quiet as breath

Carrying hope they won’t detect

Donna, if you can’t find me now…

I’ll find my way back somehow.