[Intro][A seven-beat bass loop circles beneath a printer rhythm that never reaches its last page.]

[Female Spoken Vocal]

Keep for legal.
Keep for sales.
Keep in case.
Reason: blank.

[Verse 1]
[Female Lead Vocal]

A backup from a platform shut eight years ago.
A customer export no department claims to own.
Contracts past their purpose in a box below the stair.
A mailbox for a manager who no longer works there.
The policy says "appropriate." The schedule gives no date.
The archive adds a terabyte while owners hesitate.
Deletion needs a signature; storage asks for neglect.
So every doubtful copy earns another year unchecked.

[Pre-Chorus]

Keep it once. Keep it twice.
Keep it for a future fight.
No event can stop the feed.
Storage grows beyond the need.

[Chorus]

Retention without end, every copy finds a shelf,
Saved for a need that cannot name itself.
Retention without end, no trigger, date or term;
The past becomes exposed wire when no owner can confirm.
Retention without end: preserve what law requires,
Then cut the feed when purpose, hold and duty have expired.

[Verse 2]

Ben finds backup chains that cannot all restore,
Thirty snapshots of an obsolete file store.
Priya finds dev dumps compressed without a key.
Mara finds old grievance files from two thousand three.
Legal circles seven classes. Finance circles ten.
Neither signs the warehouse full of everything since then.
Helena draws four columns: owner, purpose, ground and term.
Half the rows go silent when each owner takes a turn.

[Instrumental Break][The seven-beat guitar cycle passes through bass, drums and steel without resolving.]

[Bridge]

A lawsuit needs its papers. A restore needs its chain.
Each hold gets an owner and a date to test again.
"Maybe" leaves the register. The first class expires.
The shredder waits at sunrise under archive lights.

[Breakdown]
[Gang Vocals]

Owner.
Purpose.
Trigger.
Term.

[Final Chorus]
[Female Lead with Gang Vocals]

No retention without end. Each class now has a term:
A stated reason, fixed review and owner to confirm.
Exceptions carry dates and show who signed the stay.
The first approved disposal starts at sunrise on a tray.
One file expires. The seven-beat machine releases then.
Three notes reach a final chord. Not everything must remain.

[Outro]
[Female Spoken Vocal]

Class: expired.
Hold: none.
Disposal witnessed.
Retention has an end.