The Glass Firewall
Intro
Verse 1
I stood in the corner of the conference room
Drowning in the smell of cheap coffee and doom
They handed me a script with a swagger and a stride
A manual for men where I tried hard to hide
They said, "Lean in, take up space, interrupt and demand"
While I sat there quiet, with a map in my hand
That nobody wanted, because I wasn't loud
Just a ghost in the back of the hyperactive crowd.
Pre-Chorus
I was reading the lines, but I missed every cue
Playing a character I never quite knew
While the guys on the fast track were coasting along
I was wondering why everything felt so damn wrong.
Chorus
Too soft for the table, too quiet to count!
Sitting right at the bottom of the corporate mount.
They passed me right over, they locked up the prize,
While the truth was a ghost shining straight through my eyes.
I failed all their tests of the arrogant kind—
Living out the glass firewall, long left behind.
Yeah, I played the part poorly, a stranger to grace,
Wearing a costume that fell from my face.
Verse 2
The irony cuts like a surgical blade
I was paying the tax for a game never played
They assumed I had the VIP pass in my coat
While I choked on the words that I couldn't well-quote
Second-guessed at the whiteboard, sidelined and ignored
While the loudest pretenders collected the board.
I was living the penalty long before the change—
An invisible woman locked out of the exchange.
Pre-Chorus
I was reading the lines, but I missed every cue
Playing a character I never quite knew
While the guys on the fast track were coasting along
I was wondering why everything felt so damn wrong.
Chorus
Too soft for the table, too quiet to count!
Sitting right at the bottom of the corporate mount.
They passed me right over, they locked up the prize,
While the truth was a ghost shining straight through my eyes.
I failed all their tests of the arrogant kind—
Living out the glass firewall, long left behind.
Yeah, I played the part poorly, a stranger to grace,
Wearing a costume that fell from my face.
Bridge
It turns out the system doesn't care about your code
If you aren't shouting loud down the highway road!
They thought I was just failing at being one of the guys—
They didn't know I was just opening my eyes!
I didn't lose the race because I didn't have the skill,
I lost because I hated every drop of the pill!
Chorus
Too soft for the table, too quiet to count!
Sitting right at the bottom of the corporate mount.
They passed me right over, they locked up the prize,
While the truth was a ghost shining straight through my eyes.
I failed all their tests of the arrogant kind—
Living out the glass firewall, long left behind.
Outro
The worst actor in the room...
And damn proud of the review.
I threw the script away.
"Honestly, the casting department owes me an apology."