Wrote this about a year ago and just rediscovered it.
Where I’m from I’m no one Just taking up space under the dying sun where I’m from Where I’m from You buy your fun I can’t forget the things I’ve done where I‘m from Every time I woke up I was a little surprised And I wondered why I kept myself alive And god knows this place was ready to die But it was all I’d ever known And I only ever meant to pass you by But your home looks so pretty from up in the sky It’s been a long way and I’m fixing to die I should’ve thought of that before I left home But when you looked at me with that empty, burning stare And you looked right on through my eyes as if I wasn’t there You took me right on back to the place where I was before With the stagnant, dirty air Full of faces I can’t recall anymore You know I’m not unused to being alone
He wears a crown upon his head He holds a weapon in his hand He drags his fingers through the sand He holds his poison in his teeth He knows he hardly has to think He breathes in sound and spits up ink And he is blinded by his own light And he knows no one taught him to fight Oh, Anthony, talk to me Oh, Anthony Just breathe, breathe He throws his ring onto the ground She throws him out and makes him run He reaches for his only son His lyrics fall on soundless ears He holds a pocketful of pills He knows the chaser is what kills But he knows someone stands behind the lens And he knows she’ll be there when the vision ends Oh, Anthony, talk to me Oh, Anthony Just breathe, breathe He knows he’ll die the way he lived He’s so afraid he doesn’t care He reaches for the empty air He keeps it all inside his head
(1st verse) White noise, check your conscience here She said in space there's no room for fear She kept a picture by the door To remind her of the way things were before
(2nd verse) "Houston, I'm never coming down I'd rather watch the world keep turning 'round Up here it's just my rocketship and me And you can't cry in zero gravity She knows there's nothing for her there As she sits up there breathing prepackaged air She hates the feel of solid ground Up here she's a queen without a crown
(pre-chorus) Who the hell do you think you are? Caught between Planet Earth and the local star You better love it up there, sitting all alone You're one thousand days and counting and you're still not coming home
(Chorus) Just a sailor without a sea A starspun curiosity I've lost control
Hope you enjoy! (Also keep in mind that this one is a little difficult for me to play on guitar and I didn't practice it much before recording)
Lyrics:
(1st verse) I left the green light on last night Then stayed awake and wrote your name I left it well within your sight So you might come like moth to flame Come to burn If I should speak What would you learn?
(Chorus) Thoughts they rise and fall and fade away Someday I'll be gone and you might wonder why you stayed
(2nd verse) All that lies between our minds Are years of which you're unaware In the dark you cannot find them So I sigh and keep you there You cannot know For if you knew You might let go
(Chorus) Thoughts they rise and fall and fade away Someday I'll be gone and you might wonder why you stayed
Lyrics: (1st verse) Let me feel you lift me to our closest star Let me steal you like the precious thing you are Stony gazes make my colorless skin crawl Passing through phases, our only hope is to evolve
(2nd verse) We put our hopes and dreams on a rocket ship to Mars It’s closer than it seems, the future’s not so far You’re watching Venus rise, I’ve never felt so low No though escapes the mind, no light escapes the soul
(chorus) All I want is to burn through your black hole eyes Pray don’t close your eyes, look to the sky and I’ll show you your first blue sunrise
(3rd verse) Come off the ceiling, you know you’re making me feel low Home’s just a feeling, and it’s one I cannot know Ten thousand liar’s words have left me on my own Build me a pyre of pale and shapely bone
(chorus) All I want is to burn through your black hole eyes
The glow of the lamplight illuminated her face As she worked diligently on her essay. Not small minded But small She scratched away with her pencil Leaving traces Smudges On the paper. Finally The Clock Donged. Her face lit up with excitement. The girl put down her lined piece of paper, That looked like a jail for words. She took out A piece of blank paper Creamy White And began to write. "The glow of the lamplight illuminated her face..."
There is sunshine this morning. It warps the frost on the window, melts frozen feathers into my palm, dampens the folded cuff of my coat. I'm not waiting for anyone.
This morning there is music resonating down the hallway at school. Someone stands in the center of a room to my right, mouth open, dancing with words, smiling only half as wide as me.
There's ink on my wrist, blued from writing late into the night when my bare feet refused to walk in the solitary dark to the cold sink down the hall, wash my hands with frothy soap under endless water.
Make myself a new messiah, "Trust me," I say- they know I'm a liar; some good old-fashioned bloodletting, you take it back- I'm not forgetting that time they told me I was dirty- dirty? Little birdie, far too wordy, quite upsetting. It wasn't long before it worsened, hateful, pithy little person- can't explain why my shows are all booked; you say they're mad- I say they're hooked and maybe just a little crazy- crazy? Slightly lazy, eyes are hazy since I first looked. Burn this copy; new revision- tripping on my tunnel vision; dark and gritty, avant-garde, cannot swallow- much too hard if you've ever stopped to listen- listen? Twisted vixen, pavement glistens with glass shards. The shades are drawn; the light is darkened
It was a matter of fact Something Trashy didn't have All he had was a matter of time That was running out Always something of flame We knew Trashy was to blame I guess we never really understood What he was about
But his name Became a game I remember how we would shout
"Trashman Come to get rid of the mess of the human race? Soon you're gonna burn away the town Are you gonna burn the whole damn world down?" Young Trashy, Trashy was our clown
"Hey, Trashman Don't you think it's best you burned off your face? 'Cause we're sick and tired of looking at you cry" And to this day, I wonder why we felt so big When we saw our words leaking out of Trashy's eyes
It was a matter of love Something Trashy didn't know Have I told you all the words we would call him? He was a matter of flame Always hating at the rain
They put me in a system that my people can’t escape Just because my people don’t blend in, just because of their skin They say “ make America great again” It’s tough because they can’t see it through a black lens They give us commercials to wear the latest trends When they wear it it’s lit, but when we wear it it’s ghetto But when a black person gets shot they lay low They don’t want to think that a person that looks like them would do that So they lie to everyone and say that we were strapped They ask us questions about the shooting that are irrelevant To make us look like the bad guy, well, that’s how the message is sent Poor white guys are too ignorant to see the apparent They’re put in a system, too, just with a lighter sentence So I got a question, why is February the only time I learn about my heredity While we lie to kids and teach them about good white guys like Santa and the tooth fairy
I remember a time when I thought the world was a beautiful place.
I remember thinking about villains in stories and movies and laughing because everyone nowadays is so nice. How could anybody be that cruel? It didn’t make sense.
I remember history lessons, and the way we learned about war, discrimination, hatred. It seemed so far away, as if they were fairy tales told to scare us. The deaths, the victims, all of that was just numbers to us. An annoyance to fit so many zeros onto that one line we set aside for statistics.
I remember watching the news with my father half-heartedly. I didn’t understand what the person on the screen was talking about, and I didn’t really want to. I just wanted the person to stop talking about whatever he was going on about so we could switch back to Disney Channel.
One moment One oppertunitity A simple eye connection And secret looks at the ground A bag spilling with coins Bills Faces glaring up at us Screaming take me. But this money comes with a price We both know that. Take the money Pay the price And you're filthy rich. In money anyway. Our hands touch on the bag A thick canvas sack Rough under our fingertips Take the money In that moment our eyes meet A train whistles We stand up and walk away. Our heel clicks fading into the distance, Leaving behind an undesirable canvas sack
They say that He was the water And she was the fire But his riptides overcame her And buried her flame. She was caught in his wild storms And tossed around like a rag doll. She used to be fierce But now she is soggy And flexible like a rubber band. He scattered her ashes Like seed to a starving bird, His dark eyes flashing with a thousand storms. He was the water And she was the fire But then she grabbed hold of the wind And whisked him away.
A charcoal sketch of long ago Our footprints faded in the snow. The smell of honey always stays A reminder of the far off days, When we liked each other Sister from another mother. Music you played I can't delete It continues on in my heartbeat. I know I should say adieu And start letting go of you, But I can't bear to break your heart of glass So I guess this lie will forever last. We are doomed to be together I suppose Just like the thorn and wild rose. Someday I'll tell you how I feel Our movie reaching the end of its reel. But untill that time Though our friendship is sublime I"ll look into your starry eyes And hope the rain will leave the skies.
And as we grasp the burning fire Our lungs are exhaled into sparks as we drift higher The poison burning from our lips Struggling for a bitter grip And I breathe And I breathe You are the mother of my wounds You are the lover of my accusations You take the ripples from my life And put the ripples in this poison patience And I breathe And I breathe Push through the caverns with a lighter That evermore will bring me dark If I keep looking We will fall into the binding The forest crumbles from my spark And I breathe And I breathe You are the mother of my wounds You are the lover of my accusations You take the ripples from my life And put the ripples in this poison patience And we breathe And we breathe And we breathe
Our story begins in the bare forests of Vermont, with me. One water molecule among hundreds of others, formed together as a snowflake that is lighter than a feather. It is a wind forsaken day, and the leaf I sit upon doesn’t stir, though it is dipped low to the ground with the weight of many others like myself. Snow covers the landscape in a never ending blanket. And then slowly, as if in a dream, we watch as white turns to green, bringing with it the melty warmth of spring. The nearby river swells with runoff, and as I drop to the ground, now unfrozen and swift, I feel certain I will be joining it soon. But wait! In front of me.. Something white.. I’m stuck to its sides and become slowly absorbed. Roots. As I travel through the plant, other collected molecules beside me are turned into nutrients, but I find my way to the pores at the top of the leaf, and begin transpiring to the sky above.
