My Father's Train

If I knew then, what I know now
I would've kept smiling with my head in the clouds
If I lived now, how I lived then
I'd be a happier man than most men

I've spent the better half of a decade
Being told about all of my mistakes
Living life with a constant headache
Just to figure out how to graduate

Now a years gone by since I walked the plank
Got on a train that has no breaks
With the rest of a country that's so irate
When all I wanna do is create

If I knew then, what I know now
I would've kept smiling with my head in the clouds
If I lived now, how I lived then
I'd be a happier man than most men

Happy Birthday ±

I can't remember your birthday, but I think that's a good thing
It's either today or maybe 2 days from today, or 2 days ago
Regardless though, it doesn't matter anymore
Your age means nothing
Your name it's irrelevant
Your face is a stranger's face
If today is the day though I hope it's a great one, I guess
But only because you've had a rough year
With only a handful of times that we see eye to eye I want to take this time to act like adults
We'll say, "How do you do?!" and "How's the family?!"
But I already know the answer to that, I'm sorry
You'll ask me about mine but won't really care either way
I always wonder about your brother more so than you actually
I hope that he stays left instead of turning right like you did
November will come quickly,
We'll shuffle into a dingy part of town with everyone we tried to forget
Standing shoulder to shoulder all throwing our pennies violently to quench our thirst,
But more so our curiosity 
I'll walk around maneuvering through idiotic conversations and awkward greetings, pretending not to look for you and you'll do the same
I promise to be nice this time
I promise I'll lie to you

Cover Your Tracks (Whisper While Reading)

There's a fire going out in the distance
I smell it but I can barely see it
The wind carried the smoke and it's filled with deception and dead cedar
It stings my nostrils but I can't get enough
It feels like gasoline and it's becoming addicting
I take a deep breath and hold it in
Dizzy, lightheaded, high -
I can't remember which way I was traveling
So I just keep walking, following the smoke
But it feels like I'm following a ghost
Stumbling forward, with someone surrounding me
I won't reach the fire tonight but I'll make a dent in the trek
And the morning to follow I will do the same
Breathe, follow, stumble forward
Until I reach the smoldering embers
So I can exhale the gasoline inside my lungs
And ignite the entire forest behind me

Without an E

Listen, grab a glass of water
There's a pill that's going to get caught deep inside your throat
Consider that warning my only attempt at being civil, but don't expect it again
Right now I bet your airways are clear and air is flowing freely in and out of your lungs
Oxygen is reaching your brain in the same way it does each and every day
In a few weeks, or a month or two tops, you're going to begin to suffocate
An emblematic pillow held by the hand of her past
That's all I can tell you, simply because that's all I know
It could come as a swift bubble in your bloodstream, traveling one way to your brain
Or perhaps a swelling of your throat that could take days before you feel a thing
All I know...all we know is that it's partially self-inflicted
Oblivious to the fact that you're appeal has lowered
Unaware of the wandering eyes attached to your lovers spotted face
Not to mention how much talking her fingers do
Either way, you will soon be uncomfortable
Uneasy, you will lack sleep, and you will lose something that was hardly yours in the first place
This is a fair warning from the last person you'd expect it from

A Cello

The cello is writing this
As I sit here
The cello is writing about
What aches it's sweet sound
It bellows out these beautiful cries that shake me
It makes me feel like there is someone right behind me
Citronella and a cello
A few cracks of twigs and leaves
It makes me hear bones breaking instead
Smoke and a cello
Hello Night to be exact
It makes me yearn for a strange feeling
Like the one you get when a wish comes true
Ringing and a cello
We claim to be three sheets to the wind
It makes me think of a old sailor and his drunken ship
The cello speaks different now
As I sit here

If The World Ends This Saturday

If the world ends this Saturday I will not worry myself with floating up or sinking down
If it ends before I wake up than even better

If the world implodes in on itself this coming Saturday I hope I'm standing next to someone I love
If it ends while we're dancing even better

If the world begins to evaporate into thin air I hope it takes you just before me so I can inhale you seconds before I burst into dust

If the world ends this Saturday in a slow and painful way I will not hesitate to poison us both with a venom that kills instantly

It it ends with me here and you there then I will shut my eyes to pretend there is here and here is there

If the world ends this coming Saturday I will be surprised and I will be proven wrong and I will feel cheated out of a life that I have yet to live the way I want

But if the world ends and I had the chance to sing my songs, right my wrongs and love like I was dying anyway
Then if the world ends this Saturday I will go with it smiling ear to ear

Sea Legs

I'm standing on a waterbed
Balancing my composure and my weight
Practicing my lines and my poker face
You taught me a fortune's worth of patience
But destroyed me with continual maintenance
There is an onslaught of weapons
Tucked away inside your coat
I wish it were me and not you
But it's not, so cut me to ribbons
Blow holes through my chest
Dismantle my bones and burn whatever's left
Break my sea legs and let me sink in

Three Legged Race

I want them to sew our hands together
And I want our ankles bound by twine

Each morning we'd wake I would be just fine
If every step that you'd take would be the same as mine

The lines of your palms would begin when mine stopped
And with our fingers entangled we would define the word locked

At first we would trip and stumble to keep pace
But I would cherish each step of our three legged race

But our hands are not sewn and our ankles not tied
No matter how many times I asked or I tried

The lines on our palms and our fingers don't match
Cause the love that I give I never get back

The University Of

A life on pause
As I sit and create a divot in the Earth
I create no dent in my debt
Twenty years nose first in a book
But not one day spent being prepared for the harsh truth
The doctors and the adjuncts hand me my grades
The dean hands me a $50,000 piece of paper
Some woman named Sallie Mae hands me the bill
Like an overstocked product I remain on the shelf
As the suits and white coats pass me up
So what's the answer
Spend more money
Get a certified certificate to certify that I'm finally worthy of your time
When my child is born I will lay no path for him
I will tell him no piece of paper will make him who he is
And he will be happier and more successful than I

In A Clover Patch You Will Signal To Me

Bury your hands in the dirt with me
Grab a hold of any roots you can get a grip of
Hold onto them as tightly as you can
The next step is the hardest to grasp though
We are going to be torn apart from each other
As the roots grow we will be separated by great lengths
Underneath our nails will be filled with dirt
Our hold on the roots will be saturated with sweat
Do not let go
Soon our bodies will be engulfed by dirt
And our breathing will be slowed to a crawl
Underneath the earth will be where our love is hidden
Listen closely through the muffled mud
I will be screaming to you, "I am sorry! This will not last much longer!"
I know that you trusted in me and buried yourself alive with me
I cannot tell you when we will be able to resurface
But I will dig my way out and I will come after you
I will search in the clover patch

Smiling Without Breathing

I hate to be the bearer of bad news,
but it seems as though I've forgotten
how to exhale. I took a breath and breathed
you in and there you've been since.
I'm sure that if I were to remember
how to let out my lungs, my breath would
smell of your sweetest scents. The walls of my
lungs begin to heal with every touch from
your finger tips. I blame it on your
insatiable, unconscious desire to cure,
you'll tell me you're just trying to warm your
hands. My cheeks become flush with reds and pinks
at first. They expand to hold you in longer
forcing my ears to pop. Everything sounds
like we're underwater now, and that's how
it feels too, when you forget how to let go
of the air inside. Sometimes there are a few
sharp pains piercing through my cheeks,
up to my temple, and they end up in my brain,
sending signals through every nerve in my body,
urging me to exhale. But most of the time,
I'm happy to turn blue for you.