Bleeding Through The Checkpoint

Verse 1

Fifty thousand officers stand in line,

Blue uniforms pressed, holding the line,

Five weeks now without a single dime,

Patting down bags on borrowed time.

They scan the screens, they check the gates,

While Congress packs their bags and vacates,

The ones who keep the airports safe

Are selling plasma just to eat today.

Chorus

Who guards the ones who guard us all?

Who catches them before they fall?

Three-hour lines stretch down the hall,

And Congress can't be bothered at all.

Donating blood to pay the rent,

While every last elected went

Back home to rest without a care—

The TSA still standing there.

Verse 2

A mother works the morning shift,

Her checking account's run adrift,

She rolls her sleeve at the clinic door,

Gives her plasma just to feed her four.

The needle stings but not as much

As knowing she's been left in the lurch,

By representatives who swore an oath,

Then turned their backs on the ones who work the most.

Chorus

Who guards the ones who guard us all?

Who catches them before they fall?

Three-hour lines stretch down the hall,

And Congress can't be bothered at all.

Donating blood to pay the rent,

While every last elected went

Back home to rest without a care—

The TSA still standing there.

Verse 3

Security lines past three hours long,

Passengers weary, something's wrong,

The system breaks when you don't pay

The people keeping threats at bay.

Five weeks deep and no end near,

Fifty thousand swallowing fear,

Still showing up, still standing tall,

While the Capitol echoes down an empty hall.

Bridge

They left town, they closed the door,

Said they'd fix it, nothing more,

But the officers are on their knees,

Giving everything just so we can leave

On silver wings across the sky—

The least that we could do is try

To see them, hear them, say their name,

Before this silence turns to shame.

Chorus

Who guards the ones who guard us all?

Who catches them before they fall?

Three-hour lines stretch down the hall,

And Congress can't be bothered at all.

Donating blood to pay the rent,

While every last elected went

Back home to rest without a care—

The TSA still standing there.

Inspired by real events. Names, details, and narrative may be fictionalized.