// two voices detected

Song of a provider

A poem in two voices: the Provider speaks from within; the System interrupts with its demands.

// published 11 SEP 2026

Provider — the voice within

System — the outside demand

I know why I’m here,To provide and protect,My primary functions,If I’m to have respect,

The Respect of my peers,The person I love,My children or family.And Some god above,

But in my heart,there lives a song,A promise so bright,For where I belong,

[ SYSTEM // SIGNAL OVERRIDE ]

There’s no music yet!You have work to do!Provide and protect,You owe them that, don’t you?

So I Provide a safe place,To learn and grow,And while I Provide,My feelings can’t show,The long hours for money,Away at the job,Giving my best self,A slave to the mob,

[ SYSTEM // SIGNAL OVERRIDE ]

But don’t share your best self,You’re here to work,Unless it’s the wit of a scholar,Or a laugh or a smirk,

Here My feelings don’t matter,The only real rule,The relationship is fake,And I’m the fool,

So my hands will work,To calm the quake,To repair the broken,Or to fix the mistake,

[ SYSTEM // SIGNAL OVERRIDE ]

Now Back home to protect,Be stoic and strong,Protect from the world,And anything wrong,

Do they notice the ache?The look on your face?Do they notice your gait?The silent ask for grace?

If they do they don’t care,So just carry on,They just aren’t ready yet,To hear your song,

So Protect from failure,From trials or fault,Ignore my own wounds,Burned with salt,

Protect from adversity,Anxiety and sadness,Protect from arguments,From Pain or madness,

[ PROVIDER // SIGNAL BREACH ]

I’ll provide and protect,And carry along,Provide and protect,

And none will hear my song,

source // unattributedPanelFlux Notes

Hey losers, get in.

Art can be interpreted, but an artist still had thoughts and impressions that drove the result. This is sort of a short thought on what drove this piece.

Providing has always been hard. Many of us—myself included and perhaps naively—expect society to improve with each generation. There has always been work, responsibility, pain, friction, and struggle. But there has also always been art and storytelling: love, music, beauty, and everything beautiful we lump into what is called the human experience.

// the unequal swing

I was looking at it through a pendulum view thinking we naturally flow from working on things from survival on the far left toward responsibilities and duty and on to the things that fill our cups, hobbies, interests, artistic pursuits, service, and love and all that. Song of a provider is what happens when that natural movement is stalled or failing, inhibiting us. Someone might dive into things at a micro level here but in my own view I saw it as a systemic problem and where as a global unit we are not affording the right to live life in this fundamental way.

Life is for the living. That means you, and it means me and it fucking sucks sometimes. Somewhere buried in the schedule, the bills, and the duty is a latent spark of passion because a system left no room for it to grow.

Every provider has SOME beautiful piece of real fucking art in them.Somewhere right now someone is thinking up a comedy set they will never get time to perform, someone is trying to remember the lyrics that were swallowed up to make room for the next shift, someone right now is wondering why they didn’t give it one more try, someone right now is telling themselves this weekend they’ll swing by the shop for paint…if work doesn’t call. How many people have become indispensable to everyone except themselves?

The system does not reward a pendulum that swings evenly. Its pressures keep the growing poor and middle class close to survival, while smaller groups can move more freely between duty and meaning.

The song doesn’t disappear,That is not the tragedy,The system leaves no room for the song…. Do you see?