Time has an incredible knack, for
Marching us into the next chapter
Pages turn by light of your lantern
Guiding me back home

I built a life of fame and fortune
Paved my way to riches and stardom
When lightning struck, I watched it crumble
Left with only stone

Vanity and Lust wrought my twenties
Greed and Wrath spent all of my plenty
The cost of life's lessons is our Envy
Gluttony for truth

Transitioning into thirty three
Searing flames of holy prophecy
Right hand scribbles my biography
Pride has sold my youth

We pay our dues in isolation
Growth consuming the old foundation
The desert teaches moderation
The Sun's golden hues

When you hear thunder roar
It's hard to imagine
You could be the one in a million

But when the static in the air
Makes your hair stand on end
The realization comes fast as lightning

We are all so flawed that
When we attempt to trace
The face of divinity
The names scrawled frantically
Carving ink into our skin
All of our moral failings
The meaning lost in translation
Though we try again and again
Allah doesn't ring the same as
Yahweh

Can you still feel their pain?
Or have we forgotten pleasure
Try to bleach away the stains
Blood left on your treasures

Bury the coins down deep
And lock away the guilt
While choking on the key
My inky guts spilt out

I'm sick on melancholy
Numb to what's right or wrong
The ship has sailed, behold her glory
Sirens wail, so great their song

Stories told by word of mouth
Gossip scribbled out a map
X marks my heart, 10 paces South
Tricked again, fell in the trap

The clash of steel, the smell of smoke
Aye, I gouged out his eye again
Nay, just another sad bloke
Who's plans went awry Captain

As I patched up my face, and dusted my coat
A crack in the mirror split across my soul
The two parts of myself, the survivor and the ghost
Both covered in blood from others we stole.

I'm just an artist
There's nothing I can paint
That will staunch the bleeding of children
Running in the hallways
Terror streaking across their faces
Dripping sweat and tears dry
The after math is a class on
Thoughts and prayers.

I'm only an artist
There's nothing I can sing
That will stop them from drilling
Miles and miles deep the chemicals leak
Water isn't what it used to be
But gas ain't cheap, and
Neither is that mansion your
Representation bought
Across the street

I'm a humble artist
There's nothing I can write
That will regrow the forests that burn
I need the paper to wipe
And the ash fills my lungs
So I exhale my feelings onto
Blank white sheets hoping
To make a difference.

I've been pacing from room to room

Waiting for the world to stimulate

Something other than haunting gloom

Scroll unrolling a new series of emotions

Trends are mountaintops so better follow

The path is winding and this high peaked

Enjoy the view of this digital landscape

As the rest of the world crumbles at your

Feet

Our logic is round
Like the world that we stand on
Our fathers are proud
We proved to be worthy spawn

Our reasoning is cyclical
Like the seasons return on schedule
Our mothers still cynical
That love exists beyond her child

Morality makes us whole
Like a cold drink from a clean spring
But do we have a soul?
The weight of the question runs deep

You can't prove me wrong
Isn't a good enough reason to act out
And just because a song is sung
Doesn't mean I have to listen to you shout