[Intro]
[Staccato piano and brushed snare establish a tight cabaret tango.]

[Verse 1 - Anubis, deep male baritone]
The handbook says my collar must be white,
My shoes must shine beneath fluorescent light.
No symbols larger than a wedding ring,
No mention of the verdicts I might bring.
“Be warm,” says Susan. “Never look severe.
Avoid the words ‘eternal’ and ‘fear.’”
She pins a smiling badge above my heart;
I pin the jackal underneath its art.

[Pre-Chorus - Anubis, deep male baritone]
Knot to the left, name badge to the right,
Hide the ancient gold from public sight.
They trim the truth to corporate size—
Still, old deserts burn behind my eyes.

[Chorus - Anubis, deep male baritone]
The jackal wears a tie today,
He nods at what the handbook says.
He holds the door, he pours the rye—
The jackal wears a tie.
But silk cannot domesticate
The hand that tends the final gate.

[Verse 2 - Anubis, deep male baritone]
I practice phrases by the coffee urn:
“We understand this is a grave concern.”
“Our Bronze Farewell includes a viewing chair.”
“The floral upgrade starts from over there.”
A salesman laughs and calls me “good old Drew,”
Then asks if ancient gods earn overtime too.
I smile so thin the room turns cold;
My hidden pin remains its jackal gold.

[Pre-Chorus - Anubis, deep male baritone]
Knot pulled tight, jaw held still,
Polite as ink upon the bill.
They see the suit and miss the sign—
The gate is theirs; the judgment mine.

[Chorus - Anubis, deep male baritone]
The jackal wears a tie today,
He nods at what the handbook says.
He holds the door, he pours the rye—
The jackal wears a tie.
But silk cannot domesticate
The hand that tends the final gate.

[Instrumental Break]
[Violin circles a restrained tango melody while the upright bass walks in measured half-steps.]

[Bridge - Anubis, deep male baritone]
I wore no crown beside the dead,
Only linen, oil and sacred thread.
Authority was never cloth;
A god stays god when labels wash off.
So let them standardize my name—
The scale remembers why I came.

[Breakdown - Anubis, deep male baritone]
No throne.
No shrine.
A clip-on badge.
A closing time.
No temple wall, no desert sky—
Still the jackal wears the tie.

[Final Chorus - Anubis, deep male baritone]
The jackal wears a tie tonight,
Black silk drawn beneath cold light.
He signs the form but not the lie—
The jackal wears a tie.
No policy can calculate
The mercy due at death’s last gate.

[Outro - Anubis, deep male baritone]
I loosen the knot when the doors are locked.
The jackal pin gleams.
The old scales knock.