[Intro]
[Acoustic guitar plays the three-note motif without accompaniment; harmonium answers quietly.]

[Verse 1]
The World Tree grows by the visitors’ lot,
Between painted lines and a designated spot.
Its roots lift the pavement by half of an inch.
Facilities marked them for cutting next spring.
HR brings a tablet, two coffees and care.
She asks if the bench is an adequate chair.
I place my old badge by the root near my knee.
Exit interview at the World Tree.

[Pre-Chorus]
She asks why I’m leaving. I look at the bark.
A checkbox waits under “Manager remark.”
I say, “There are answers too living to store.”
She asks if that means dissatisfaction with score.

[Chorus]
Exit interview at the World Tree,
Ask what the company meant to me.
I gave you an eye; you gave me a key
That stopped working after three.
Exit interview at the World Tree—
Wisdom was never your property.

[Verse 2]
She asks what might tempt me to alter my choice:
A title, a mentor, a structured new voice.
I tell her that thought needs a sky it can cross,
And memory needs room to set down a loss.
Hugin sits high on a monitor sign.
Munin drops one yellow timesheet beside mine.
The spear rests gently against the old tree.
No guard comes to claim company property.

[Pre-Chorus]
She asks if I’d recommend others apply.
A raven lets one sheet escape to the sky.
I say, “Only those who can price what they know,
And leave part unpriced where the living roots grow.”

[Chorus]
Exit interview at the World Tree,
Ask what the company meant to me.
I gave you an eye; you gave me a key
That stopped working after three.
Exit interview at the World Tree—
Wisdom was never your property.

[Instrumental Break]
[Fingerpicked guitar, bass and brushed drums circle the motif while harmonium holds one unmeasured breath.]

[Bridge]
I once said wisdom was billed by the hour,
A phrase made bitter by borrowed power.
But wisdom is water that alters the stone.
It weakens when packaged and dies when owned.

[Break]
[HR]
“Would you consider returning someday?”

[Odin]
“Not under this tree. Not working this way.”

[Build-up]
She closes the tablet and gathers her coat.
The final response has no field for the note.
I lift up the badge, then bury it shallow.
A root curls over the yellow plastic.

[Final Chorus]
Exit interview at the World Tree,
No final rating, no competency.
I gave you an eye; it still belongs to me,
In every hard truth I choose to see.
Exit interview at the World Tree—
Wisdom was never your property.

[Post-Chorus]
[Hugin]
Thought has found the morning air.
[Munin]
Memory can rest somewhere.
[Odin]
No throne, no deck, no hourly fee.
[All]
Only the road beneath the tree.

[Outro]
The office windows catch the afternoon.
A meeting begins in the old conference room.
Three figures walk where the roots run free:
One god, two ravens—and no company key.