The Phoenix
They never mention the blinding, searing pain
of disintegrating skin
Falling away from ashen bone
The brief, but brutal mourning
for the life departing
The rebirth is a new spring
New hope painted onto clear skies
An empty canvas to be filled
With want and glory
Every time she rises once more
An ethereal form from the ashes
She is more beautiful
Filled with greater strength and purpose
Certain that this will be the last
The final form
The meticulously drafted version
of herself
At last she could be done
with the burning, and reviving
With the drowning flame
Searing and reforming her shape
Again. Again. Again.
But every new hope
Is seared at the edges
And each new beginning
Always circles back to itself
An ouroboros
An endless chasing of dreams
And no matter how she tries
To dance in water
To dream in dew and grass
The fire always find her again.
And she is lost and found
and lost again
to the flames.
What’s the Point?
There’s not enough time
But too much of it
How can both things be?
I go to sleep too early now
But the insomnia still haunts me
I’m running out of time
To do those things I swore I’d do
Write the great American novel
Pen the next Broadway sensation
Write a song worthy of Dylan
Make a film to win an Oscar
Write philosophy and meaning
People care about and hear
Because they love you
And care what you think
And you’re not just the ghost of a girl
Sipping English breakfast tea
Neither in England or at breakfast
Black and bitter
Too bitter.
You left the bag in too long
But you drink it anyway
Because you deserve the bitter
You could have removed the bag
At any time.
You let it steep
So now just sleep
In the bed you've made
This is your life
In 3D IMAX view
Why am I doing this
Writing this?
What’s the point of this?
I’m wasting more time.
Sleeping Dogs Lie
I don't know why I do this
I don't know why I hide
I don't know why the world outside
Makes me so terrified
Don't know when I became this
A mask trapped in the void
I don't know when to stop
I make myself so paranoid
It's all in vain
I've gone insane
No ifs or maybes
The bitch is crazy
You made the bed
So lie in it
Sleeping dogs
wake up with fleas
And darling,
you laid next to me
Read the Bible
Sued for libel
Notes on paper
Love in vapor
Everything I ever wanted
Somehow always left me haunted
Now that you're tied to my cable
Suicide
So damn unstable
I don't know why I do this
I don't know why I cried
I don't know why here at your side
I feel like I have died
Don't know when I became this
A shelved doll, just a toy
I don't know when to stop
I make myself so paranoid
It's all in vain
I've gone insane
No ifs or maybes
The bitch is crazy
You made the bed
So lie in it
Sleeping dogs
wake up with fleas
And darling,
you laid next to me
Caught the Vibe
$100 t-shirt
With a band you've never heard
Shelf packed full with vinyls
Google told you which were good
Book shelf lined with classics
Pretty spines that no one's touched
A house of vintage furniture
Like a show room all done up
You'll never get it right
But, hey, at least you caught the vibe
One day these days of your life
Will be another bad fad
For them to imbibe
And you'll start to wonder why
They pick apart your life
While you're still alive
And you'll start to feel
Like you might have died
But, hey, at least they caught the vibe.
Right?
Take the poloroid picture
When your phone has better res
Watch pretentious art films
When you'd rather watch your feed instead
Go to all the biggest concerts
Watch the image through your screen
Your own two eyes won't realize
How they're missing everything
And still, you'll never get it right
But, hey, at least you caught the vibe
One day these days of your life
Will be another bad fad
For them to imbibe
And you'll start to wonder why
They pick apart your life
While you're still alive
And you'll start to feel
Like you might have died
But, hey, at least they caught the vibe.
Right?
One day your youth will be
Someone's costume jewelery
And life will start to feel
Like some long play
And some dumb girl who's half your age
Will tell you why the past's so great
Like you weren't fucking there
Back in those days
And you'll tell her
You'll never get it right
But, hey, at least you caught the vibe
One day these days of your life
Will be another bad fad
For them to imbibe
And you'll start to wonder why
They pick apart your life
While you're still alive
And you'll start to feel
Like you might have died
But, hey, at least they caught the vibe.
Right?
The Architect
They're burning Rome
So play along
To the violin's sweet song
Cast the call for liberty
Then line up for the Guillotine
Back to where
We're all unsure
We pick the poison
Loathe the cure
My God, what are we living for?
Machinery rot to the core
Bad bad apples
Toss the batch
Throw out the draft
And start from scratch.
There's nothing left here to dissect.
Crucify the architect.
God will save us
From humdrum
Is that him at the podium?
Why's he got a loaded gun?
Fire and ice, a world undone.
Back to where
We're sheep in line
Biting tongues and biding time.
Just following
The leader blind
Into slaughter for his crime
Bad bad shepherd
Getting caught
He lost the flock
And lost the plot.
It leaves little room for introspect
So crucify the architect
There's nothing left here to protect
So crucify the architect.
Frankenstein’s Monster
Do you think Frankenstein regret it
The mess that he invented?
Or was the curiosity worth
All of the monstrosity?
I wonder if he desired
To be remembered and admired.
They'd talk for years about
What he could build with just two hands.
He wanted to be greater
But some hundred odd years later
The monster's myth.
But there's no mention of the man.
Just his name misrepresented
Was that always the intention?
To become one with the monster
you create?
Was it his honest reflection
Wrapped in skin and bone?
Some lesson
Just to punish a cold world
He'd grown to hate?
The Story of Before You
Move on. Move on
The past is dead and gone.
They lied in song
We can't dream on.
Beating broken hearts
Bleeding crimson and clover
I think it's safe to say
That the dream is long over
Teens without a scene
The tragedy. They won't know the
Magic in a moment
When the music meets the soul
The empty corporate salesmen
Turned the people into shells
They couldn't push a product
So they had them sell themselves
No more ads on tv shows
But play everywhere else
We're living in a simulation
Or maybe this is hell.
Had to disconnect
Just to find a connection
Unaffected
Youth infection
Mourn the past
Then carry forward
Time moves on
It won't wait for you
Left behind
The last orator
To tell the story
Of before you
The Girl Comes Undone
Castles are crumbling
This is no movie scene
Living a fantasy
She’s living a fantasy
The world will spin madly on
As she gets lost in a song
Of all that she’s meant to have done
All she was meant to have done
Picture the portrait
And what do you see
The fragments have shattered
These pieces of me
Held all together
With the thinnest of strings
But the girl’s come undone
Beautiful lies
That sound nice in my head
But fairytales fail
And the hero is dead
An emptied out shell
Masquerades in her stead
And the girl’s come undone
Lost in the memory
Of who she used to be
Or who she never was
Or who she never was
Paints herself into prose
The greatest of all heroes
That’s all she ever does
That’s all she ever does
Girl comes undone
Girl comes undone
She has no one
Left with no one
Holding the gun
Picked her poison
Left with no one
Girl comes undone
Twisted Valentine
Circles, Cycles
I’ll never break the chain
I have this habit
That’s never gonna break
I want you, haunt you
Burn you at the stake
Just a toy
To destroy
I'll beat you at your game
Love, hate
Choice, fate
Read the tarot cards
Pull death
Lose breath
Then shatter into shards
Of what was
Of us
A bullet in the heart
Bleed out
Bleed out
Tear yourself apart
Love to hate you
Revel in the pain
Build you break you
A toxin to your brain
Picked your poison
It’s driving you insane
But you’re for torture
Darling, I’m the same
Bleed red
Drop dead
be forever mine
chosen roses
thorn prick on a vine
lovely
crime spree
Bonnie to your Clyde
Precious
Meth head
Twisted valentine
Seedy treaties
I had to turn you in
Your time, my crime
Punished for my sin
You’re free, find me
Back around again
Carousel from hell
That never seems to end
Ropes and ribbons
Tie us in a bow
Sins unforgiven
Notch on a bedpost
Blackened bruises
Remind me of your ghost
I brave to crave you
The one I love the most