Lyric

The purpose disappeared long before the system stopped

Instructions faded

Operators vanished

Records fragmented

Yet the machinery remained active

Lights continued illuminating empty corridors

Fans continued circulating forgotten air

Motion survived intention

There is a piano beneath the facility

Its surface buried beneath years of dust

Several keys no longer respond

The melody compensates

Each missing note alters the shape of what remains

Not broken

Not repaired

Simply changed

The structure behaves the same way

Corridors remain

Destinations do not

Movement remains

Reasons do not

The function is gone

The activity remains

The objective is gone

The procedure remains

Something continues

Not because it should

Not because it must

But because stopping never became necessary

Maintenance schedules continue executing

Replacement systems continue activating

Environmental controls continue adjusting temperatures

Every process behaves correctly

According to standards nobody remembers creating

Dust accumulates across active machinery

Rain enters through fractured ceilings

Roots emerge through service tunnels

The facility adapts

Without recognizing adaptation

This should resemble failure

It does not

This should resemble abandonment

It does not

The system no longer requires purpose

Continuation has become sufficient

The piano grows quieter

Its influence grows larger

Certain notes remain absent

Their absence becomes part of the composition

Memory behaves similarly

Details disappear

Consequences remain

Nobody recalls the original design

Everyone inherits its remains

The piano finally stops

The consequences do not

Heat migrates through abandoned foundations

Water follows pathways built for forgotten requirements

Static occupies frequencies no longer assigned to communication

The facility remains operational

The facility remains purposeless

Both statements remain true

No recovery procedure begins

No correction follows

The remaining systems continue exchanging signals

Without instruction

Without supervision

Without expectation

What persists is not function

But the residue left behind after function disappeared