The Traveler's Tune

The winter sun is low on Capitol Hill Another budget fight, the chamber's standing still The Speaker grips the gavel, worn and old A story of a shutdown, I've been told They draw their lines with ink of red and blue While the gears of government grind slow and few And out upon the plains, the people wait To hear the whispered word of their own fate. Oh, the news it comes and goes like passing trains Through summer droughts and autumn-colored rains

The names and faces change, I do declare But the story's in the bones, the weight is in the air Just a traveler's tune beneath a weary sky As another page of history goes by. Down at the Fed, a man named Powell speaks his piece Of fighting off inflation, finding some release He talks of points and rates, a careful, measured game But the price of bread and gas don't feel the same At a kitchen table, adding up the cost Counting all the little victories they've lost

A promise of stability, it sounds so grand From a tower that can't feel the working hand. Oh, the news it comes and goes like passing trains Through summer droughts and autumn-colored rains The names and faces change, I do declare But the story's in the bones, the weight is in the air Just a traveler's tune beneath a weary sky As another page of history goes by. And in the wires, a digital ghost is born A mind of code to greet the coming morn

They call it AI, a marvel and a fright Shining up the future, dimming out the light Is it our salvation, or a brand new kind of chain? Just another question, in the wind and in the rain. Oh, the news it comes and goes like passing trains Through summer droughts and autumn-colored rains The names and faces change, I do declare But the story's in the bones, the weight is in the air Just a traveler's tune beneath a weary sky As another page of history goes by.