[Intro]
[Fingerpicked guitar and bowed bass leave a full beat of silence between phrases.]

[Verse 1]
I am the spear beside the printer,
Cold through summer, dull through winter.
Once I flew where banners tore.
Now I guard the stationery drawer.
My point reflects the warning light.
Paper jams disturb the night.
No king has touched my ashwood grain.
A cleaner moves me back again.

[Verse 2]
I tell the spear, “You still stand true.”
It answers, “Do the same thing too.”
I say, “The age of kings is through.”
It says, “Then why bow when they ask you to?”
My narrow tie cuts at my skin.
The printer pulls another page within.
A picture of the quarterly plan
Slides warm and useless to my hand.

[Chorus]
The spear beside the printer
Remembers every hand.
It knew the weight of kingdoms;
Now it holds the paper jam.
The spear beside the printer
Still knows where I should stand.

[Verse 3]
I traded comfort for a sight
That showed me consequence and right.
I hung for knowledge, cut and cold.
No pension plan, no stock, no gold.
Yet here I price a warning down
To fit a client’s budget round.
My wisdom enters slide by slide.
My name sits small on the lower-right side.

[Instrumental Break]
[Bowed bass sustains the three-note motif while acoustic guitar answers in descending thirds.]

[Bridge]
The spear says, “Purpose is not rank.
A weapon knows the arm it thanks.
You need not throw me through a wall
To stand upright before them all.
But wood left leaning learns to bend,
And every borrowed role must end.”

[Chorus]
The spear beside the printer
Remembers every hand.
It knew the weight of kingdoms;
Now it holds the paper jam.
The spear beside the printer
Still knows where I should stand.

[Final Chorus]
The spear beside the printer
Is not a relic, not a brand.
It bears the grain of Yggdrasil
No office ever understood.
The spear beside the printer
Waits quietly for my hand.

[Outro]
The warning light turns amber, then white.
I lift the spear and feel its weight.
For one brief breath, the room grows still.
Then paper feeds. The printer waits.