The Parliament of One

[Verse 1]
Desire takes the chair by the window
Says, “Open the door, let the whole world in”
Duty lays a ledger on the table
Love keeps turning every page back again
Pride clears its throat, demands the final word
And every voice has learned to sound like law
I sit beneath their portraits in the hallway
Holding the life they’re voting on

[Pre-Chorus]
Hands go up around the chamber
Names are called, the tally’s read
I can hear them choose my future
I’m the only one who isn’t heard

[Chorus]
The parliament of one convenes inside my head
Desire, duty, love, and pride decide instead
They draw the lines, they raise the walls, they call the motion through
But I’m the one who wakes tomorrow
Living with what they choose

[Verse 2]
Desire wants the bright road past the harbor
Duty says the bridge is mine to mend
Love asks who will still be there beside me
Pride says never let them see you bend
They trade my hours like a stack of paper
They spend my yes before I know the cost
Then morning finds me at the open doorway
Counting what was chosen, what was lost

[Pre-Chorus]
Hands go up around the chamber
Names are called, the tally’s read
I can hear them choose my future
I’m the only one who isn’t heard

[Chorus]
The parliament of one convenes inside my head
Desire, duty, love, and pride decide instead
They draw the lines, they raise the walls, they call the motion through
But I’m the one who wakes tomorrow
Living with what they choose

[Bridge]
Let the record show: I was here
With my own pulse beneath the noise
Let the record show: the cost was mine
Though I never cast a choice
I won’t silence every counsel
I won’t burn the chamber down
I will take the chair among them
And make my vote count now

[Final Chorus]
The parliament of one convenes inside my head
Desire, duty, love, and pride can speak—but not decide instead
They draw their lines; I hear them all; I choose what carries through
I’m the one who wakes tomorrow
And I will choose what I live through

[Outro]
One chair pulled close
One hand raised
The life is mine
The vote is mine