I glow cherry-red in jazz haze
Sax bleeds where my weld seams begin
Wurlitzer tremolo shakes my frame
Bass wood hums through ablative skin
Telemetry reads wrong tonight
Gimbal locks on blue-note time
Injectors pulse to ride cymbal sway
Manifold sings in minor key
Thruster heart beats jazz in vacuum
Brass fire paints the basement gold
No ignition sequence needed here
Just melody and manifold
Smoke-stained velvet wraps my nozzle
Spilled Old Fashioned drips on chrome
Mute trumpet kisses carbon scoring
Ride cymbal writes my flight code home
Telemetry reads wrong tonight
Gimbal locks on blue-note time
Injectors pulse to ride cymbal sway
Manifold sings in minor key
Thruster heart beats jazz in vacuum
Brass fire paints the basement gold
No ignition sequence needed here
Just melody and manifold
Ozone scent mixes with perfume
Vibration hums through smoke rings thick
Gated snare cracks my thermal shield
Hofner groove makes gravity sick
If shutdown comes at dawn's first gray
I'll burn out humming Coltrane changes
No telemetry, no mission plan
Just brass and thrust and basement trance
Thruster heart beats jazz in vacuum
Brass fire paints the basement gold
No ignition sequence needed here
Just melody and manifold
Dawn light fractures through grimy glass
Music fades but heat remains
I hold the chord in cooling metal
Basement jazz in thruster veins
Thruster heart beats jazz in vacuum
Brass fire paints the basement gold
No ignition sequence needed here
Just melody and manifold
Thruster heart beats jazz in vacuum
Brass fire paints the basement gold
Manifold hums the last refrain
Basement jazz in thruster veins