The Teller's Morning Verse

The sun comes up on Washington town A worried whisper's goin' 'round The Treasury says the coffers are dry Come the first of June, the eagles won't fly President Joe, he draws a hard line Speaker McCarthy says the fault ain't mine They're trading words on a debt unseen Just an old, old story on a modern scene. Oh, the wind it blows the news to me From the mountain top to the digital sea The names all change, the stage is reset But it's the same old human story yet

The same old pride, the same old fear I've seen it all for a thousand years. The nine old robes in their solemn hall They heard the case of a digital call Who guards the words on the glowing screen? The company, the user, or a ghost machine? They weighed the code, two-three-oh's might And sent it back down from their cloudy height A modern town square, a tangled debate On who gets to speak and who seals the gate. Oh, the wind it blows the news to me From the mountain top to the digital sea

The names all change, the stage is reset But it's the same old human story yet The same old pride, the same old fear I've seen it all for a thousand years. And up in the north, Alberta's burning bright Fills Montana's sky with an amber light A smoky haze drifts on the breeze Comes stealin' south through the prairie trees No border wall can hold back the air A world on fire is a world to share Reminds a soul what we can't command This borrowed time on this borrowed land.

So you check your phone for the words they wrote You check your wallet for the last banknote You check the sky for a sign of rain And you feel the ache of a world in pain It's the king's high court and the market stall One heavy blanket covers us all. And the wind it blows the news to me From the mountain top to the digital sea The names all change, the stage is reset But it's the same old human story yet The same old pride, the same old fear I've seen it all for a thousand years.