Fluorescent Saints
Verse 1Hallway tiles glow a sickly off-white under lights that buzz like tired insects, sanctifying lockers, water fountains, dated motivational posters,Teenage bodies drift from class to class in denim and boredom, carrying notebooks, bruises, crushes, and that low background dread they call growing up,The sound system coughs out announcements, lost items, practice times, substitute teachers who will never matter,Between words, the speakers breathe, exhale a sound that doesn’t belong to any human throat in the building.
Verse 2Bathroom mirrors stretch the world a little wider, corners smeared, your face thinning out toward the edges,For a heartbeat your reflection pulls a different expression, one half-second out of sync,You blink hard, splash water, blame sleep, sugar, hormones, anything that doesn’t point to reality slipping,Stalls rattle with unseen drafts, doors tapping in patterns that could be morse or simple hunger.
Pre-ChorusNo one writes this into the handbook or the pledge you mumble under your breath,Still, everyone feels the shift when the bell rings just a beat too slow.
ChorusFluorescent saints hang overhead, buzzing gospel over cheap linoleum,They flicker twice every time the world outside these walls twitches,No rosary, no incense, just gum under desks and graffiti carved honest into paint,Prayers get said without words here, in glances that say stay close when the clock hands stutter.
BridgeA science lab sink coughs up sludge in the shape of fingers before the drain swallows the trick,The library lights dim no matter how many new bulbs maintenance screws in,A guidance counselor’s office plant leans away from one specific corner of the room and never grows that side back,Everyone senses something wrong in the wiring, but textbooks keep handing out the same old diagrams of sane circuitry.
ChorusFluorescent saints hang overhead, buzzing gospel over cheap linoleum,They flicker twice every time the world outside these walls twitches,No rosary, no incense, just gum under desks and graffiti carved honest into paint,Prayers get said without words here, in glances that say stay close when the clock hands stutter.