"Gentrification"

Let me be
The existential
Passionless pacifist
Let me figure it out
I know I'm not alone in this

And don't help me
Unless
You plan to give me your best
It's pointless to continue on
If there's no point in going on

Don't fight me
You could clue me in
Without caving in
I don't need
Another false perception
Clouding my vision

Hard on me
So hard on me
Falling steeper into
Deeper predictabilities
I want to break free
Forgive me for the frequencies
In which I dig a ditch
And pitch your insecurities

Falter for the final time
Ribbed in filtered images
For every fault builds bigger bridges
I can't fight my failures
For much longer

"Bound"

I want to say what's on my mind
What is it
Is it hiding just around the corner
I feel like I've been keeping secrets
And I have
But I don't want to hurt the ones I love
Not any more than I have

And I could keep a half truth
So close to my vest
But at best, still not bulletproof
Am I designed to unwind
And crumble to the floor
I'm not sure
If anyone is waiting
To untangle me

And you were never there
Never there for me
I tried and you pried
Into every aspect of my life
I would have let you come freely
But you won't consider your bounds
Won't consider your boundaries

And so I'm spinning here in circles
Round the same old thoughts again
A few points that I ricochet off
I don't know where to begin

And so I venture where I know
Shifting orbit in degrees
Ghosts of the ellipses I travel
Show you where I've peaked
And tried progressing
Past the ghosts inside
I'm haunted by the fact
That I may be here till I die

"Curve Of the World"

Life on the pavement gets so linear
Two dimensional points of view
I can see the horizon
But can I see further, over

And I feel so stuck
The comfort of my feet upon the street
Take me high above it all
To see
The overarching shape of things
The curve of the world

They tell me that the world is flat
And who am I to doubt
When all I've seen is that
How can I believe in further, over

chorus

And I feel so small
When I'm standing tall
My shadows cast so close to the ground
Take me up
Where I can't touch
The ways I'm rooted down

"Everything Could Go Wrong'

This car
Could swerve
Off of the side of the road
I'd have no time to react
My heart
Could stop
My pulse arrested
Cardiac

Everything
Everything could go wrong
Everything
Everything, I go on

This plane
Could crash
Fall out of the sky
No flying back
My words
Could burn
Down everything I love
Turn it into black

chorus

If it happens or it doesn't
If it was or if it wasn't
Yeah, I could have a heart attack
While everybody gets there fine
Gets there fine
My pulse doesn't decided the guiding line

"Sleepy City"

Early Sunday morning
See the boats, they leave their trails
V-shaped marks split the deepest parts
The sailors raise their sails

And the city's all laid out
In neat and tidy little squares
People live their lives in boxes
Just to live there

And some people dream
And some people have their own routine
And some people follow
And some people lead
And nobody's wrong
For trying to be free
Though we stumble along here
Crumbling

I pass over the ocean
Seeing isolated lands
You could call them private kingdoms
Or exiled contrabands

Are our worlds so disconnected
We forget to understand
We're all as desperate as a desert
Dry, dependent grains of sand

chorus

And the city is asleep but I'm awake
On wings I fly above its flooded gates
Building tops and limitations
Are concepts far from me
I just want to be free
We all want to be free

"Cockeyed Idealist"

I see the good
I see the good in everyone
I see the good
I see the good in everything

But don't think I don't know about injustice
Don't think I ain't seen the shattered sky
Don't tell me to see with eyes wide open
When every day I try

I see the fire
That burns beneath our feet
I see the fire
About to spread and reign deceit

I'm not a liar
But my words get blown off course
Guess I'm a liar
I'm my own destructive force

chorus

And you can search the world and find
Every evil intermingled with divine

"Intense and Dense"

Wade through the sound
Between the notes and what is found
Truth doesn't always come clear
In the brightest of notes

Because hope can be
A groan or a melody
And sometimes we make our own
Out of anything we can find

So don't you worry
If the words don't come out right
Every moment you are building
Every moment is a fight

Wake to the sound of
A heart that has half-given up
And lift one leg right after the other
The weight to start the day

Because home can be
A place that's hard to reach
So find hope in the moment
Don't let it slow your pace

chorus

"Melatonin"

Sleep now
Don't try to fight it
Oceans are rising
To carry you

Sleep now
In your burrow hiding
Nestle deep inside and
Let it enfold you

And in waves
Across your face
Like a sheet of satin
Pull you to that place
Embrace
The pond of grace
You are sinking
Slowly, soundly

Deep down
Feeling even lighter
In the hearth the fire
Is quietly smoldering

And the dying light
So small inside
See the single strand
Of smoke float to the sky

chorus

"Adrenaline"

I wake with the sun
It's starting a fire in me
Feet on the floor
Start my engine running

Awake in the dawn
I need your light
Alive in the wake
Of the fading midnight

And my pulse
And my heart
The cadence is set
From the place I restart

Break through my gray
Show me that spark
Light the torch in my eyes
To protrude through the dark

And the trees
Start their arc
Succumb to the wind
Of the morning star
In waves
Rush through my heart
Flooding my blood
At the day's start

"Shapeshifter"

I could put on a face
I could be so many things for you
Try to replace
Who I am with what I think is true

I make mistakes
And know I'm not defined by them
Still it's a race
To run away and not become

Me
Me
I'd be anything but me
Me

They could size you up
Lay you out in different pieces and
Tack you down
To segment and examine them

Simplified
To hide what they don't understand
Break you down
Till the last thing that you want to be is

You
You
Turn you into something new
You

For all our flaws
The only thing I want to be is me
Because
Everyone is flawed
And if you can have an impact
Then maybe I am making one as well
It's not a loss
To be myself, however flawed

Shapeshifter
Are you sifting through the sands
Trying to find your own hands again
You never really know who you are
Because you've drifted so far
Shapeshifter
Like a fading star

"BLM"

Red and blue
A terror down your spine
You don't know how this will end
But you've heard
Of horror stories, black and white
Is peace an enemy or friend

And you shouldn't have to second guess
If you're more or less
Or how to dress
But see in time
We could leave it all behind
Progress isn't always common sense
Not always present tense
But we could leave it all behind

Flashing lights
Like a lighthouse on a hill
It could wreck or save your soul
Open eyes
And follow side to side
Surrender your control

And do they see the fear behind them
Does the terror there remind them

And you shouldn't have to second guess
If you're more or less
Or how to dress
But see in time
We could leave it all behind
Progress isn't always common sense
Not always present tense
But we could leave it all behind

The fear it strikes
A wicked chord
And you never know
Quite how it might ring out
Do you hold your doubt
Or hold your ground
When clarity may barely make a sound

"The Same"

There's a race
To become
What you see
In the world
That you want
You could be
Anything
Have it all

There's a race
To collect
Everything
You can get
Your hands on
Be it status
Be it wealth
Be it fame

But everybody ends the same
And all you leave behind
Is how people said your name
Were you the one
At the top
Of the chain
Or were you pulling it along

There's a race
To compete
Be the best
Turn your cheek
Fix your brow
Cause somehow
Being stubborn gets you there

I don't care
What you think
Where you're from
What you believe
Be the salt
Of the earth
Give others the same worth
You give yourself

And leave behind
A fondness for your name
Were you the one
At the top
Of the chain
Or were you pulling us along
You seem so strong
But are you all alone
Sometimes we forget
That we all want the throne
But I admit
This life wouldn't be the same
Without all of the people who give it shape
Just know, know the difference that you make

"The Offer"

I was in love
I was in love with what I had
I had no need
For any one, only any thing
I was in love
I was alone

I was in deep
Voices, they'd creep
Into my mind
Dividing me, dividing line
I was alone
I wasn't fine

But then you offered me something better
Something better than I'd ever had
Yeah, you offered me something better
And now I can never go back

I was in love
I was in love with what I had
A brand new purpose
No more tears or suffering
I wasn't fine
But that was all right

I was accepted
I was accepted for once in my life
I was different
Broken to pieces, bare
But that was all right
Because you were my light

When you offered me something better
Something better than I'd ever had
Yeah, you offered me something better
And now I can never go back

I was in churches
I was in churches all of my life
I was rejected
Discouraged but I held on tight
Because you were my light
My heart was right

They wore me down, it came like rain
We're family, but not the same
The pieces that don't fit get washed away

There's many types, but that's all right
We sing with people locked outside
In harmony, in dissonance, I cried

My heart was right
But where was the light

I told them I don't see a difference
I'm as lonely as I was before
They said they had nothing to offer
That's not what you bring yourself for

But then I thought back to the altar
When I traded what I had for more
I gave you all I had to offer
You offered me an open door

Into a home
I'd never known
I wasn't alone
Because you offered me hope

"Uninspired"

You've been gifted
With the ability
To never really try
You can pick up
Almost anything
And still feel justified

When your hands aren't bringing comfort
And your words aren't bringing peace
When you say you come to the Most High
But you're bringing Him your least

How long
Will you dip into a well that's dry
How long
Will you churn out words so uninspired
How long
Will you burn without a fire

You've been lifted
From a worn out
Stale excuse for life
Why don't you get up
Get your feet wet
No excuses not to try

You can quote a book all day long
Or you could make it your own song

Anyone can do what they have done
Anyone could sing the songs they've sung
We don't need to hear another one

"Hanging"

There's so much hanging in the air
Throw ropes from somewhere over there
And don't follow through

Cause I'll follow down the line
With no one on the other side
So where are you?

If, if, if, if, if
If you want to converse
I'll be there at the first sign
You, you
You throw out your words
But you won't accept mine

If your words struck me, unaware
When you cast your thoughts with little care
So where's the truth

Because you're not the first to be
Distant and shouting out to me
What I'm to do

And the part that hurts the most
Is that you never lean in close
To talk to me
But you'll raise a picket sign
And never once give me the time
And understand what you don't see

If, if
If you want to converse
I'll be there at the first sign
You, you
You throw out your words
But you won't accept mine

If you want to converse
I'll be there at the first sign
Or continue to curse
And hold to your one side

"Glad That You Did"

When I'm left aching, and still shaking
From the world you blew apart
It made me realize that this is how much
You can feel your heart

And it's the feeling that I dread
It's just like throwing up
Try to avoid it at all costs but maybe facing it
Is growing up

Maybe when you walk away least scarred
Means it was mostly on your part
A stab in the back never felt so bad
To the person walking away from it

And I'm left bleeding
Stuck and repeating
The last words that you said
As the knife falls to the floor
And every drop of me has bled

Yeah I'm left bleeding
Stuck and repeating
The last words that you said
And they'll still echo on
Long after I am dead