Digital Static

My thumb keeps turning disaster like pages in a book I never chose to understand
A child in rubble, a town on fire,
a blue-lit confession, and I don’t even move my hand
I should feel something heavy, something holy,
something that drags me to my knees in the sand
Yet my face stays neutral as paperwork,
and my pulse stays cheap, and I cannot swear it’s planned
The screen serves grief in bright little squares,
and my eyes drink it down like it’s bland
I watch the world bleed in high definition,
then scroll past it like a bargain brand
A clown in a suit sells outrage and mercy, both in one tap, both pre-scanned
And I sit in my chair like a witness for hire, paid in quiet, paid in demand
[Chorus] Digital static, tragic traffic, I keep rolling past the wreck
Digital static, nerve goes lax, and guilt just crawls around my neck
Digital static, I can’t react, I keep a calm face for effect
Digital static, world in pieces, and my heart won’t even check
A headline screams, a comment sneers, a prayer gets typed, a threat gets sent
Somebody begs for bread and shelter, and my silence acts like full consent
I used to flinch at human damage, now my mind treats horror like content
My spirit feels like cheap hotel art, hung up to please, then quickly bent
I feel the weight in other people, I see the tears, I hear the rant
Still my chest stays shut and stingy, like kindness got denied a grant
I’m not proud of this empty weather, I’m not claiming I’m “above” the ache
I just keep drifting, cool and careful, while the world keeps begging me to wake
[Chorus] Digital static, tragic traffic, I keep rolling past the wreck
Digital static, nerve goes lax, and guilt just crawls around my neck
Digital static, I can’t react, I keep a calm face for effect
Digital static, world in pieces, and my heart won’t even check
The feed turns war into a slideshow, turns famine into polite debate
Turns bodies into numbers rising, turns love into a target date
A polished man sells “thoughts and prayers” like souvenirs outside the gate
I taste the fraud, I see the racket, still I chew it, still I wait
My thumb is faithful to the motion, faithful as a habit learned in youth
My eyes keep taking in the damage, my mouth keeps failing at the truth
If someone asked me, face to face, I’d swear I care, and mean it too
Yet here I am, anesthetized, letting the nightmare stroll right through
[Chorus] Digital static, tragic traffic, I keep rolling past the wreck
Digital static, nerve goes lax, and guilt just crawls around my neck
Digital static, I can’t react, I keep a calm face for effect
Digital static, world in pieces, and my heart won’t even check
One day my screen will show my street, my name, my blood, my ruined door
And maybe then my body wakes up, maybe then I feel the score
Till then I sit in borrowed comfort, cheap-lit room, familiar floor
A man with all the facts in reach, and still no feeling at the core
If numbness is a quiet illness, it wears my face and pays my rent
It doesn’t roar, it doesn’t brag, it just keeps me absent, self-content
I want to break this calm addiction, want to feel the thing I meant
But my thumb keeps moving, moving, and my blank stare stays unbent