[Intro]

From upstairs: "Push them harder."
From the team: "Please hold the line."
From both sides: "Daniel, answer."
One body. Two directions. No place to stand.

[Verse]

Leon says, "Create momentum.
They respond when leaders press."
Nora says, "Stop changing targets.
We are drowning in the mess."
Sabine says, "Report the blockers.
People cannot work like this."
The Director says, "Contain it.
Escalation creates risk."

[Pre-Chorus]

One side wants control.
One side wants trust.
Both call silence necessary.
Both say speaking up is just —

[Chorus]

Caught in the middle, holding both walls,
Taking the pressure from opposite calls.
Too close to the team to pretend they are fine,
Too low in the chain to redraw the line.
Everyone owns me when something goes wrong.
No one gives power where power belongs.

[Verse]

The team chat fills with private messages:
"Can this wait? Is Maya okay?"
The leadership channel sends its answer:
"Confidence must come from you."
I type three versions, delete each one,
None of them can make both true.
My notebook holds three priority lists —
Every list excludes the rest.

[Pre-Chorus]

I am not a neutral hallway.
I am standing in the strain.

[Chorus]

Caught in the middle, holding both walls,
Taking the pressure from opposite calls.
Too close to the team to conceal what I know,
Too far from the boardroom to tell it where to go.
Everyone owns me when something goes wrong.
No one gives power where power belongs.

[Interlude]

[Management Voice]

Keep the message positive.

[Team Voices]

Trust us with the real decision.

[Daniel]

You pull from either side
And call the fracture mine.

[Guitar Solo]

[Bridge]

I cannot be the pressure valve
That lets the engine overheat.
If leadership means choosing,
Then let me choose the truth.

[Build-up]

Not your shield. Not their guard.
Not the hand that paints it green.

[Final Chorus]

Caught in the middle, but I see the frame:
The conflict is designed to travel through my name.
Too close to the team to betray what is true,
Too clear on the cost to keep carrying it through.
Everyone may blame me when honesty comes.
But power must answer for what power has done.

[Outro]

The walls do not move. I step from the seam.
Four notes descend. The last turns clean.
Tomorrow Nora enters the room
With evidence nobody wants to hear.
