There’s so much that I’ve wanted to say, But there has always been a demon at my back Watching my moves and hushing my voice It’s just a ghost of the past I’ve kept myself confined, I’ve convinced myself to be kind But without reason or authenticity, without a spirit of content Turmoil and distress, it’s like an endless loop The incongruity of this reality and what I had once hoped it could be It’s like my sense of purpose is lost, it’s a fear that my life is capped This entanglement with days gone by A shadow that's followed me for too long I’ve kept myself confined, I’ve convinced myself to be kind There has always been a demon at my back Hushing my voice

These are my questions: Am I the only one who sees a problem? How can I argue? It’s the way that things have been This reason keeps us from searching An insurmountable ego all these generations have made We speak our minds without any thought (I won’t listen) We feel like we are free but we’re caught (To you anymore) A silver tongue with a taste for gold (I’ll take from you) Blood and money, to manipulate (You can’t buy my life) Our eyes are clouded over, With a myopic sense of view Who can we believe? We’re all just pawns in a game There’s no struggle because we always trust In a complicated webbing of good intentions and lies How can we break this cycle of violence And lift this shroud of ignorance and secrecy? The euphemisms we learn betray our own intrinsic truths Reformed to perpetuate and to think only enough to subsist We lay the stones one by one and keep our heads to the ground This culture of consumption has been eroding who we are Losing ourselves in the name of the American dream We believe in lies that to most will be only (it would be) fantasy There is more to be found in the search for who we are We won’t give up our lives this time

In these quiet moments My mind tends to wander I am frozen in space Drifting alone in stasis Distorted reality gives me clarity I can find truth in the haze of the night These broken pieces of our being, They never seem to fit together And so we are left to hypothesize and rationalize Are we free at all? I want to know Order, predetermined, witness or none Can we really create our own dimensions? Can we really take control of our lives? These broken pieces of our being, They never seem to fit together And so we are left to hypothesize and rationalize Why are we a part of this equation? We are chaos among perfect order The answers are needed as the sand slips through our fingers In the wake of our finite and insignificant existence We must find the common threads of humanity We can unravel the strings of infinity There are only two truths that I know You could call them god Notes and numbers A perfect code, with immortal truths We are bound by the cipher, by the scales But in our humility, we can understand Something perfect and assurance of ourselves

I’ve always said I’m happy with my life, no regrets. It’s not my style, you live and learn But when years have gone by, we all begin to wonder If we’ve done all that we can I’m like a rabbit in a hat Everyday I perform my trick Always to please the crowds And go back to my cage This air has become stale (Trapped in my own head) I feel as though I am stifled Where is my relief? I would even welcome grief Just to feel something real Oh, it seems like it’s been so long So much times passes by without a minute of meaning Even now, as I tell you how I feel This moment is gone, a relic of the past Is it still a truth in my mind? You’d have to ask me now, if only you could I’m like a rabbit in a hat Everyday I perform my trick Always to please the crowds And go back to my cage This air has become stale I feel as though I am stifled Where is my relief? I would even welcome grief Take a snapshot of today All smiles or tears and we mean what we show But is this all that there is? Please help me to understand, I must know Maybe we aren’t supposed to find answers to things we can’t define But I can’t deal with this alone You must have felt it too, this lacking excuse for our existence Apathetic and unimpassioned, we wander Perpetual and repetitive our time slips by I can’t deal with this alone

Wandering the streets, struggling to find my place in this world Restless energy to make a difference, to make my life mean something The time we spent underneath the stars and bleeding lights, It meant more than we knew, we set the tone for our lives What I’d give to go back and relive those Denver nights And all the things I would do to get it right The frigid air of winter was a breeze of inspiration Accepted with the knowledge that summer would come With my head up in the clouds and my heart in the ground I always knew it had to end, but not like this We long for the years of our youth Before we knew what we couldn’t do Before we knew what we were capable of Why is it that when we’re young we want to be old? When we’re old, we wish to be young? Years have passed me by, I’ve found my place and somewhat know who I am Renewing energy to make a difference, to make my life mean something Live for the past, but not in it Savor everything from those moments I’ll never forget the friends I knew, the friends I lost and the times we had These memories are like chains that I drag through the snow

It always comes down to this I can’t even say the thoughts in my mind Or the doubts in my heart I don’t even know, I don’t even know How to project what I feel in what I show I can’t live my life, I can’t live my life The weight of this burden is crushing my soul Is it generational or is it something more? This is a disconnect on a widespread scale Can we not agree that we must find a way back from the edge of the cliff? There is so much hopelessness Bridges between us were burned long ago The waters underneath us have run dry Is it generational or is it something more? This is a disconnect on a widespread scale I don’t even know, I don’t even know How to project what I feel in what I show How do we fix what we can’t admit we broke? You can build a wall, I can shut a door And treasure resentment for the voices we deplore But how can we learn by pretending we’re so sure? The truth about us is always so elusive That we all want the same thing But it's all lost in a filter of ego Our futures are intertwined And we can flourish or we can fade I will not support this convention of old Where we exploit and harm the weak Sometimes it feels that our paths have split and indeed they have But we are not as far apart as we believe Every choice that we’ve made has been in parallel Two rails always on the same track The end unknown as is our course But always together We will find our meaning

Simple thoughts that changed the world around me: I’ve been tethered to the ground by limits, manipulated and lied to Lost all freedom, my destiny chosen by a thief who cowers in disguise I swallowed every doubt, ignored every context I fought my way out, the cost was steep Where do I go from here? I’ll bet you think I have something to prove but now I’m free (It’s like) breaking through the clouds (When there’s nothing) but storms overhead (Tranquility,) a clear mind and purpose (Less important) than I was before There are days that I cling to my old anger and it envelops, takes me back To a sick state of mind, hollow spirit. It’s time for change that starts with me I’ll embrace every doubt, dissect every claim of truth and I’ll learn every part of what I missed (It’s like) breaking through the clouds (When there’s nothing) but storms overhead (Tranquility,) a clear mind and purpose (Less important) than I was before We’re all victims Until we choose not to be One last chain to break I know what to do: I’ll let go Of what was done to me I am free I won’t carry baggage of my past I’ll let go This world is mine I spent so much time looking for you Only to find that I was alone all along But alone is what I needed to be I found myself