Residue Protocol

Verse

Wipe the glass, the film stays on

Cloth goes dry, the streak stays drawn

Solvent poured, the smell won't lift

Rinse again, the same thin drift

Knuckle deep in the same gray cloth

Counting circles, losing count

I know the surface, I know it's clean

I know there's something underneath

Pre-Chorus

Tell the glass to let it go

Tell the cloth it's had enough

Nine more wipes and still it shows

Residue don't wash like that

Chorus

Residue protocol, wipe it clean

Residue protocol, it's still routine

Surface clear but the trace remains

Residue protocol, it stays, it stays

Verse

Drain runs slow, the water's thick

Film collects where the light won't hit

I know it's mine, I know it's not

Every wipe just moves the spot

Steam on the mirror, my own shape

Wipe it once, it forms again

I know the pattern, I know it's fixed

I know I'm cleaning something else

Pre-Chorus

Tell the glass to let it go

Tell the cloth it's had enough

Nine more wipes and still it shows

Residue don't wash like that

Chorus

Residue protocol, wipe it clean

Residue protocol, it's still routine

Surface clear but the trace remains

Residue protocol, it stays, it stays

Bridge

Not dirt

Not dust

Something that was always there

Waiting under

Every layer

I clear

Chorus

Residue protocol, wipe it clean

Residue protocol, it's still routine

Surface clear but the trace remains

Residue protocol, it stays, it stays