Parking Lot Cathedral

(Intro – restrained clean guitar, distant ambience)

Static pulse and nicotine

Dashboard glow and cracked routines

Every word rehearsed to death

Measured smiles and shallow breath

⸻

(Verse 1)

The pressure overtaking me

Twisted pain psychology

Drawing lines I can’t erase

Casting shadows on my face

I’ll take the poison from without

Hold it in pristine, devout

Can’t find the version I replaced

Somewhere in what I erased

⸻

(Pre-Chorus)

Every handshake leaves a stain

Every silence feeds the strain

Keep the posture

Keep the tone

Leave the fracture

Driving home

⸻

(Chorus)

If I told you how I really felt

Would the whole world crack apart?

Would the wires melt beneath the weight

Of this theater in my heart?

I bite my tongue until it bleeds

Just to keep the gears aligned

Smile like a saint in fluorescent light

While the wreckage multiplies

⸻

(Verse 2)

Office glass and vacant eyes

Polished truths and scripted lies

Every conflict neatly dressed

Every breakdown compressed

I learned to nod before I speak

Learned exhaustion can look meek

The role fit better every year

Until removal brought the fear

⸻

(Pre-Chorus 2)

Headlights carving through the rain

Let the mask dissolve again

No performance

No parade

Just the things I’m scared to say

⸻

(Chorus)

If I told you how I really felt

Would it purify or burn?

Would it free the ghost behind my teeth

Or leave another bridge unturned?

I carry storms behind my ribs

In a pressed and ironed frame

Everybody loves the calm

Nobody survives the strain

⸻

(Bridge – spoken/half sung)

Professional posture

Vertebrae of wire and smoke

Built myself from practiced answers

Now silence feels incorrect

They thanked me for my patience

While something underneath went numb

The mask stopped feeling heavy

Right before it fused in place

⸻

(Breakdown)

KEEP IT CLEAN

KEEP IT QUIET

KEEP IT LOCKED BEHIND YOUR TEETH

DON’T LET THEM SEE

WHAT LIVES BENEATH

⸻

(Outro)

Parking lot cathedral

Engine hum and cooling steel

Finally alone enough

To remember what is real