retro futuro

Verse 1

I found an old machine

sleeping under dust and wires,

it hummed my mother’s dreams

through electric funeral choirs.

The screen was cracked and blue,

but it showed me all my names,

a child I never knew

walking backwards through the flames.

Pre-Chorus

And every door I opened

was a memory in disguise,

every star above me

was a dead thing in the sky.

Chorus

The past is the future,

the future is gone,

we’re dancing in circles

to a mechanical song.

The ghost in the mirror

is learning to breathe,

the past is the future

coming back for me.

Verse 2

I saw tomorrow’s cities

built from yesterday’s bones,

with silver saints and satellites

praying through old telephones.

The children spoke in echoes,

the oceans dreamed in code,

and time became a hallway

where nobody grows old.

Pre-Chorus

I tried to run forward,

but forward was behind,

a clock without a center,

a god without a mind.

Chorus

The past is the future,

the future is gone,

we’re dancing in circles

to a mechanical song.

The ghost in the mirror

is learning to breathe,

the past is the future

coming back for me.

Bridge

I buried my memories

beneath a neon tree,

but the roots became antennas

and transmitted them to me.

So I wear my old face

like a prophecy of skin,

what I thought was the ending

is where it all begins.

Final Chorus

The past is the future,

the future is gone,

we’re burning old shadows

to keep the lights on.

The ghost in the mirror

is finally free,

the past is the future,

and it looks just like me.