[Intro]
08:42.
Dashboard up.
Red note lands.

[Verse 1]
Current draft awaiting clearance,
two tabs open, copy held back.
Nina circles one comma;
Ben checks his wristwatch.
Leo posts timing figures,
no shrug, no extra bite.
He will not editorialize it:
Blink 08:39, Current still in draft.

[Chorus]
Blink beat us again.
Not by much, but clean.
Blink beat us again.
There it sits on screen.
Small enough for jokes,
late enough to sour the grin.
Mark the minutes:
Blink beat us again.

[Verse 2]
Another Blink alert hits live,
phone vibration under Ben's hand.
Our draft waits for clearance,
same confirmed line, waiting on command.
Leo runs the comparison:
Blink 08:39; Current 08:41.
No speech, no raised eyebrow,
just the gap doing it again.

[Pre-Chorus]
I trust the measurements.
I backed that method.
Harder when the ruler
points back at newsroom speed.

[Chorus]
Blink beat us again.
Not by much, but clean.
Blink beat us again.
There it sits on screen.
Small enough for jokes,
late enough to sour the grin.
Mark the minutes:
Blink beat us again.

[Instrumental Break]

[Verse 3]
So bring me every checkpoint,
every handoff, every pause.
Who is reading, who is waiting,
what approval actually costs.
No fault in Blink's copy,
no cover from the pen.
One hard line beneath it:
Current's slower yet again.

[Chorus]
Blink beat us again.
(Blink beat us again.)
Not by much, but clean.
Blink beat us again.
(Blink beat us again.)
There it sits on screen.
Small enough for jokes,
late enough to sour the grin.
Review the route:
Blink beat us again.

[Outro]
Ben checks time. Leo turns the page.
Current clears. Too late to win.
I ask what has to change
when the figures say we're slow again.

[End]