Lessons

Lately we’ve been trapped by all of this fear
Lately just wishing we could disappear
Well there’s more to life than drifting through the days
There’s more to do than trying to get away
And when I call, feeling lost, empty in need
With my loneliness in my voice plain to see
I’ve been thinking too much about what we lose
I have to be reminded that’s the life I always choose

But why do I spend so much time remembering
When you’ve already forgotten me?
I’m stuck on that beach, that windy day in October
But you’re long gone, long moved on already
Our ghosts are written into that sand
Preserved as a memory years in the making
I admit I still get a little nervous
When you think I need a little saving

Well the days are always getting shorter
Or they’re always getting longer
But there's a balance between lying and believing
And it’s a great time for getting even
So across the room I can see you there
With your come hither glare
Even through experience, after our history
I guess for me mistakes still come easily

So I was lying with my flippant words
Trying to hide my childish nerves
My legs shaking under the table
Even my disobedient teeth tight and disabled
Still pretending to be uncaring
So you’ll never see my rebellious heart
Doing too good of a job in the end
Too much practice driving us apart

We’ve been recovering since all those years
We’re moving up tonight, no more fear
Well look at you now, you’re a sight to see
No more lies, all defiance and authority
We can be more than happy to watch the scene unfold
The unbelievers swept away in the undertow
Remember you’re only as mean as you don’t mean to be
One more chance, our hard lessons we must repeat

Strange City

Here is how life goes:
You’re not happy with what you got
There’s always somewhere else to be
You want to be what you’re not
And oh you get so bitter
With nothing real to show
For being so unfaithful
To those poor hearts you broke
And oh your eyes grow red
Silent on your side of the bed
I’m sorry he thought you asleep
When you only needed to weep

But oh I was dreaming of you
When I had the strangest thought
I was in a strange city
And you were there with me
So everyone in this town
Was someone in ourselves
People who loved you
People who loved me
And even people we loved and hated
Oh, all our enemies
But it was all familiar faces
No strangers’ identities

I dream often of this dark city
That we brighten with our souls
Our smiles are the streetlights
The sound of traffic is our laughter
The woman on the corner is your mother
The man walking by is my brother
And there’s that easy familiarity
Even with the people you said you hated
We know each other so well now
Even our well worn dislike has abated

But when I awake in the morning
I wonder when we forgot our dreams
And you shouldn’t need a photograph
To remember the last time you felt alive
So maybe on the nights
When you can only cry
You can wander down the street
To where no one says good bye
And you’ll be happy and pretty
You’ll be so relieved and free
To be with your closest friends
Even your so called enemies

For Jenna, On Her Wedding

And so begins this chapter in our lives
We are ready, you and I
We’ll live happily ever after
With diamonds in the floor and stars in the rafters
We’re so free and ready
To be with those who make us happy
So every promise that we made
We swear to always keep
We’ll be living to the fullest at dawn
When we want to stay asleep
Because life is too short to worry through
And there’s always more to say and do
But when life is hard, as it sometimes is
Remember the little things that made you laugh
And the bigger things that made you cry
And always remember to remember
You cried and laughed and you’re still alive
Because now we promise to ourselves
Years from now we will still be in love
And it will always be enough
And every day we will laugh more
We will love more, dance more, live more
We’ll be happier and smarter
More beautiful than ever before.
We are ready, you and I
To live with diamonds in the floor
And stars in our eyes.