Block by Block World

Lyrics

Three seventeen AM.
The Dell Inspiron fan breathes in the dark.
Just the smell of ramen, and warm plastic.

Graph paper squares filled with a pencil sketch.
A world of cubes, waiting for a spark.
A single line of Java holds the rules.
No one's watching.
No one knows the name.
Just the quiet work, a whisper of a game.

And block by block, a world appears.
From a single screen, it quiets all the fears.
Passed along by a handle on a thread.
A universe is sleeping in your head.
Word of mouth, a server in a basement.
Building something new from the replacement.

May 10, 2009.
A post on TIGSource.
Just an alpha key, a simple, open door.
The first fifty ghosts, with names nobody knows.
On a home DSL line, a private forest grows.
And in another room, another lamp is on.
Someone else is digging until dawn.

And block by block, a world appears.
From a single screen, it quiets all the fears.
Passed along by a handle on a thread.
A universe is sleeping in your head.
Word of mouth, a server in a basement.
Building something new from the replacement.

A mistake in the code, a pig turned upside down.
Stretched into a monster that makes no sound...
...until it's too late.
A cat's meow played in reverse.
A beautiful, flawed, emergent universe.
We didn't meet, but we built a home together.
Weathering the digital weather.

One more block.
Another dirt wall.
Another torch to hold back the fall.
The fan still breathes.
The sun is coming soon.
Another world is glowing in the room.