You STRING your words together

The WARM melted BUTTER of your VOICE

Drew me in.

You were older.

I was too YOUNG.

A naïve CLOWN who still believed

in love at first sight

You weren't SHOPPING

for permanent

I was no PRIZE

You made sure to remind me

My SKY was bright blue

Before your tables turned

Those storm clouds

Over us.

I melted like soft CHEESE

At the lilt of your LAUGH

A mouse CAUGHT in your trap

You shouldn't look a GIFT HORSE

in the mouth.

I got greedy.

I was too needy.

You didn't need me.

Were we even TOGETHER?

I was AFRAID

You were my first

I spent so much time

Trying to BUILD

Castles in your wasteland

But when things got too HEAVY

The THICK, thinning out

You left me

With just empty BOXES.

You're my inspiration

You're my best friend.

You take my breath away.

I will always love you

I'll be your crying shoulder

All of me loves all of you

I don't want to miss a thing.

I used to think these songs were cheesy

Trite and sentimental.

And then I fell in love.

Warm breath of lingering whiskey

Not sure when you swept in.

You woke me up as you fell asleep.

Your midnights are always spent

Somewhere else. With someone else.

You're always ripe with wanting.

Why do you stay?

I've marked the exits

I've made the plan

I've packed the bags, just in case.

I wait.

I'm always in a state of waiting.

Why do I stay?

I hate this. I hate us.

This awful routine we became.

I should want to leave.

But I always remember

That first vibrant summer

Dancing to God Only Knows

I'll always love that version of you

We haven't been that for a while

But I hold on to the hope

That we'll find our way back

That you'll smile

Like I was your world.

In the silence of the twilight

I think of the fight we should have

I think of the words I should say

I carefully arrange sentences.

But I say nothing.

You sleep and say nothing

And we continue as we were.

I don't know why you stay

You'll never say

I don't know why I stay

I'll never say.

Has the time all been wasted?

The JURY is out.

But I think that my friends all AGREE

You can only FIGHT so much

For love

Before you realize

The GAME was rigged.

Do I still want you?

I think I just want PEACE.

It's almost an INSULT

To consider this love.

It's always your INSTINCT to RUN

A trapped animal

And I was your cage.

You BROUGHT me daisies

In summertime sweet

But they never could last

In this DROUGHT.

Do the OPPOSITE of your promises.

BRAVO, I believe you each time.

There's always a TEST

That I'm never quite acing.

Though I've danced on the WIND

For your time

Always too busy

I'm always too needy

So easily tossed to the side.

Used GARBAGE.

That's us.

I imagined us an ELEGANT wonder

Sophisticated as you once seemed.

It started innocent

Just KISSING

OUTSIDE in the courtyard

Of that BEACH side bar

Hot sun and warm bodies

And no thinking.

I think the thinking did us in

Or maybe it was the cold.

We're just a dead TREE with lost leaves

Once vibrant and green in the summertime flush

We're left now to this winter abandon.

love me now or love me never

say goodbye or say forever

i can't take this indecision

say the truth, you'll be forgiven

call me friend or call me lover

run to me or run for cover

take my hand or take the exit

take the next right or the next left

to my house, i'll whisper softly

wrap your arms around my body

give myself to you completely

or pretend you didn't meet me

on the back street where i handed

you the heart you took for granted

i'll be with you, ever trusting

but my dear it's all or nothing

give me silence or confession

are you the answer or the lesson?

does your heart beat fast or slow

is it a yes, dear, or a no

i've been lingering in limbo

looking for some kind of signal

if you love me or you don't

tell me now or else i won't

ask again, so think it through

imagine me without a you

our lips left cold or softly touching

choose my dear, it's all or nothing

Found myself

in hell's dark twisted path

Got caught up

Could not find my way back

But sometimes it's better to get lost

in Wonderland

Down the rabbit hole

To chase my lost soul again

Fell in love with the idea in my head

Couldn't live up to that potential

It now lies dead

Why do you still see

the ghost I used to be

I think you dreamed her up

I could never measure up

to her

My God it hurts

To be so close to perfection

You could almost touch the Heavens

if you could be bothered to reach

Now all those expectations

Circle drains in a rotation

Washed away like day old bleach

You said it was better to get lost

But you never measured up the cost

of Wonderland

Feeling under

in Wonderland

Deep inside my twisted mind

Where everything is do or die

I conjured up a fight that I can't win

Painted your skies black with storms

Picked rose petals but left the thorns

Cast you in the role as my villain

It's not fair

I do these things to hurt you

And I know you care

So why do I, oh why do I

Treat you like a mirage

While I self-sabotage

Can't recall what your crime was

But I'll destroy you

Until you hate me

Settle in for the barrage

I love you, I told you that

But I held a knife behind my back

When it ends, cause it always will

I'll go in for the final kill

It's not right

I do this out of habit

Start another fight

And you concede, you concede

But I need to

Treat you like a mirage

While I self-sabotage

Can't recall what your crime was

But I'll destroy you until you hate me

Settle in for the barrage

When the dust settles

Your tested metal

Holds me in its grip

You stuck through it

Stuck through this

And I surrender

White flag

I'll always remember

When you told me that

You love me in all my flaws

Through my self-sabotage

No matter what the problem was

My head on your shoulder

Now its over

We survived the barrage

Of my self-sabotage

And I hope to God

you're not a mirage.

apathy's a color

that i've always worn quite well

stand aside and watch as time

creates an empty shell

of the sweeping declarations

we made when we began

a country with feeble feet

struggling to stand

i was always quite content

to let the players play

ill informed

i had no forum

or right to have a say

who's sitting up in Washington

don't matter much to me

i'll move along

and sing my songs

and live my day to day

but there's just so much intolerance

one can lay their eyes upon

as the jesters do their song and dance

and tell us how we're wrong

laughing in the canyon

burning every bridge that's built

Try to impeach freedom of speech

Lay at my feet their guilt

the only necessary thing for evil to prevail

is good men just to stand aside

and shrug a what the hell

i'm not laying judgement

i've been the same before

but i just can't stay quiet anymore

ideas of contradictions

based in feeling and remorse

they'll say it's getting better

as they're letting

things get worse

all they crave is power

they'll take ours

by sheer force

and we'll be left to wonder

what we didn't stop them for

history is what's at stake

which side will you stand on?

with socialistic masochists

Is that where you belong?

Accept the company you keep

Their sins then become yours

To each their own

I only know

That I just can't stay quiet anymore

out of divide

they've torn a fucking gorge

so fuck the way I used to be before

they've turned our freedom

into civil war

so I just can't stay quiet anymore

great divide

getting wider

we just can't relate

pick a side

now don't be idle

ideas can separate

into hate

we say when we grow older

we'll be better than the ones before us

but the ones before us said the same damn thing

so what's changed?

is the world a vicious cycle

doomed to repeat

just a circle

are our words today

tomorrow's turning page?

will the rage

in our hearts

dissipate into ashes?

will we lose the spark?

fists once raised

holding matches

will we let the world go dark?

i don't know

what the future holds

all i know

is we weren't the first

to hold for hope

we say it will be different

but really, what's the difference?

we're all here just wishing

on the same damn stars

never got far

wishing on stars

city lights are

making them hard

to see in the dark

i've lost that spark

that once lit the heart

that's dying in me

years pass along

the passion is gone

the girl carries on

the ghost of a song

she doesn't belong

it all just feels wrong

she no longer wants

for anything at

all of this time

changes her mind

tells her it's fine

to leave dreams behind

cause after the trying

she's at the same line

she struggled to find

all those years ago

when the dreaming is gone

and everything ends

even the song

once it crescendos

will move along

that is how all things go

onward with the

show must go on

the curtain will fall

take the last bow

after it all

make them all proud

and let them all know

that's how all things go

into the unknown

venture on your own

into the thicket overgrown

cause in the end

we're all alone

when the dreaming is gone

and everything ends

even the song

once it crescendos

will move along

that is how all things go

onward with the

show must go on

the curtain will fall

take the last bow

after it all

make them all proud

let them all know

that's how all things

go home

i long to go home

i've been lost for so long

lost inside a song

where do i belong?

when the dreaming is gone

and everything ends

and even the song

once it crescendos

will move along

that is how all things go

onward with the

show must go on

the curtain will fall

take the last bow

after it all

make them all proud

and let them all know

that's how all things go

all things go away

nothing gold can stay