Fortress of Glass

Lyrics

[Intro]
In the chill of McGill's lab, 1949,
Donald Hebb leans over you, fragile glass slide.

[Verse 1]
You're thin as a whisper, etched with silver stains,
holding the map of a rat's frozen corner.
Neurons caught in their delicate dance,
fire together, wire together, he said.
But one slip, and you shatter,
scattering thoughts like sand from a cracked hourglass.
Marian would understand, at Berkeley in '65,
her hands steady on the microscope,
seeing how the brain bends, but oh, how it breaks.

[Chorus]
Fortress of glass, my tender fortress,
under fluorescent flicker, 18 degrees cold.
I trace your edges with a breath,
ethanol sharp in the air, 9 PM quiet.
You're the muscle that strengthens,
but crumbles under stress,
holding the weight of every unspoken fear.

[Verse 2]
That pet rat in the cage, freezing at the noise,
its tiny paws on wire mesh, eyes wide.
You capture it all on your surface,
the oscilloscope humming green beside you,
tracing waves that spike and fall.
Donald at 45, scribbling notes,
Marian at 39, proving the plasticity,
but forgetting the assistants in the shadows,
their names lost like faded ink.

[Chorus]
Fortress of glass, my tender fortress,
under fluorescent flicker, 18 degrees cold.
I trace your edges with a breath,
ethanol sharp in the air, 9 PM quiet.
You're the muscle that strengthens,
but crumbles under stress,
holding the weight of every unspoken fear.

[Bridge]
What if we dropped you now,
on this cluttered desk with the half-eaten apple?
Would the networks dissolve,
leaving only the musty scent of old paper?
No, you'd refract the light still,
in pieces, resilient in ruin.

[Outro]
Fortress of glass, hold on,
in the lab's late hum,
you're vulnerable, yes,
but wired to rebuild.