[Intro]

Label the message.
Limit the thread.
Do not speculate
About what someone said.

[Verse]

It's two-fourteen in the morning,
Blue folders cover half the floor.
I draft the preservation notice,
Then read it once more.
"Confidential, seeking counsel"—
Not a spell, and not a shield.

[Pre-Chorus]

Every folder holds a decision.
Every pause could feed a risk.
Say only what the record proves—
Leave the fear off every list.

[Chorus]

Privilege and panic
In the same fluorescent room.
One protects a careful answer,
One predicts a coming doom.
Privilege and panic—
Keep the facts inside the frame.

[Verse]

I secure the vendor messages,
Hash the files and log the time.
Every forwarded attachment
Joins a long unbroken line.
The director wants assurance.
I can only promise what we keep.

[Chorus]

Privilege and panic
Walk together through the night.
One asks for protected counsel,
One turns every doubt to fright.
Privilege and panic—
Careless words enlarge the claim.

[Piano Interlude]

[Bridge]

I am tired of being certain
For the people who were not.
But the law does not require me
To pretend I feel no strain.

[Final Chorus]

Privilege and panic—
I will separate the two.
Here are facts we can establish,
Here is work we still must do.
Privilege and panic—
Fear will not take control.

[Outro]

Three twenty-seven.
The archive is sealed.
No erased history.
No invented shield.
