Hide Behind A Mirror

Self, where is your pride and what is your life?

You hide behind a one-way mirror so they won't see

What you would be without your safe reflective walls

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I give a smile back, a tiny flash of happiness cracked

Say yes I'm fine when I'm really not

Reflected feelings not my own

Protect my cold and lonely heart

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Self, you're hurting me

You hide my heart away in a fragile house of silvery glass

I can't throw stones at the cause of my pain

It's outside looking in, not seeing

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(chorus)

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Self, you've got to stop

Shiny mirrors dazzle some, but it's not you they see

Blank and numb, just a cold phantom lost in a field of light

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I should break the mirror but I can't

If I break nobody will be there to put the pieces back together

Broken glass shards in my heart

Don't you think that they would hurt as much as being alone like I already am?

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Life In Secrecy

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Burning, twisting sharp regret, no way to forget

Loss of a thing that never was, hope for a life I've never lived

Invisible, shut up now, just go on with the flow

The names they call, they hold a thrall, make me doubt all I know

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But it's nothing you deserve to live a life of secrecy

But I don't have the nerve to call them out

And make them see what their words do to me

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It's a sin, don't give in, my nature's just that grim

Life is not for me to live, happiness prohibited

So lock it up, don't come out, my love stays on a shelf

But who are these to claim disease is why you are yourself?

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Then the darkness closes in, down, down, down

Rushing fear, it hits you hard, that you just don't belong

Oh the darkness closes in, down, down, down

A devil whisper in your mind, "The world just wants you gone!"

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Stand up strong, don't look back, you aren't in the wrong

Who you are is who you'll be, beautiful and free

So drop the knife, find your life, and live it all for love

It's not too late so damn the hate, be brave and rise above

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'Cause it's nothing I deserve, to live a life of secrecy

When I don't have the nerve to call them out and make them see

No it's nothing you deserve, to live your life in secrecy

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Burning Time

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It's a beautiful day in the city of rain

The clouds are all gone for a while

Traffic is bad and parking's a pain

I might have to walk for a mile

But with nowhere to go and some hours to kill

It's a nice day just to sit still

To grab a notepad and write something sad

Or hone my musical skills

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I'm burning time in Ballard with paper and a pen

Sipping a brew and thinking of who I'd like to see again

Friends on the fly tell me goodbye

And they're leaving the city of rain

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Maybe you've heard that this place

Is the northernmost in the states

With a population over 500K

It seems that among the restless young

Someone would want me to stay

But that is my problem in the city of rain

My sorrow endures all year round

It falls from the sky and soaks into the ground

And I don't know why I'm still around

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Just for today the sunshine burns and time slips through my hands

I'll wait until the weather turns to set out for brighter lands

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(chorus)

The day passes by and I still don't know why I'm sitting alone in the sun

But I know the time is coming when I will take my turn to get up and run

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I'm burning time in Ballard with paper and a pen

Sipping a brew and thinking of who I'd like to see again

Friends on the fly tell me goodbye

When there's sun in the city of rain

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Bleeding Breathing Human Being

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She went to the forest and got so high

She felt that she should be able to fly

She looked to the sky and cried

"Someone, come save me now from all these lies!"

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I wish I was a bird so I could rise above the threat of men

But if I can't I'd like to be a bleeding breathing human being

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No gods were heard, no answer came

But one she knew and denied in vain

The game she played with blame and shame

Weighed her down with the same old pain

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I wish I was a tree so I could lay down roots and foster life

But if I can't I'd like to be a bleeding breathing human being

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I want to dance, to be carefree

To love, embrace authentic me

To break out clear from the puppet strings

To rage and cheer against the god machine

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I wish I could feel safe and real in my own decaying flesh

So let me be and you will see a bleeding breathing human being.

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Sailor Of The Sky

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They say you are grown when your bones stop lenghtening

Flight feathers in all bright and strengthening

Soon you will leave the nest for the sky

And soar away into freedom and light

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I watch and I wait and I look for a sign

In the rocks and the rain and the swaying of mountain pines

Crying, why can't I just learn to fly?

Then I hear, near, a sailor of the sky

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Nor everyone's wings work as they could

Some are small or weak and misunderstood

But you are complete malfunction and all

You're valuable, beautiful, just how you are

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I watch and I learn and I build my own craft

For the rush and the yearning to rise above every laugh

See me climb, I'm doing just fine

Living free, a sailor of the sky

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They're shooting me down, launching grenades

It's unnatural, sick, an offensive charade

Why can't you just stay confined to the ground?

Your life is a sham and your mind is unsound

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I hear what they say and I throw it away

'Cause I know who I am and I will not be led astray

See me climb, I'm doing just fine

Living free, a sailor of the sky

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Show Us The Road

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Another cold morning, another dark day

The news is more stories of lives thrown away

When will we turn and find solid ground?

When will we mourn the sisters we've drowned?

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Living is like a highway at night

Curves in the dark, we can't see far

When will we see what the future will hold?

When will the dawn show us the road?

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The powerless rise then fall right back down

Predators in disguise are burning our town

When will we learn, take hold of our fate?

When will we turn on the murdering state?

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(chrous)

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It's a long, long run to the bittersweet end

And time will erase everyone's face

So what will we say, what's our excuse

For feeding decay and enforcing taboos?

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(chorus)