I skipped town before the sun went down, I’ll run before I crawl,
I suppose I meant to matter more to you, or to anyone at all,
No apologies for the toll it took, for what we lost or we became,
The wine never turned back into water, but it drowned us all the same,
You never believed a single word you said, I never say quite what I mean,
You weren’t who you were in photographs, and I wasn’t Steve McQueen,
Still you leave my toes clinging to wires, my stomach tossing in the breeze,
But I can’t turn parking lots to prairie, I can’t compete with memories,
Now a silhouette on a stranger’s floor, still dressed in last night’s clothes,
Colored numb with hesitation, Brooklyn burning in my nose,
This city wears me like your mother’s ring, like the blues that I exhaust,
But maybe I’m home in empty spaces, maybe I’ve earned all that I lost,
I know I’ll never be the one who got away, simply the boy who disappeared,
I just hope you’ll think of me and smile someday, once all the smoke has cleared.

The big hand reaches one at 4am,
And I was you, and you were them,
In the foggy faded moonlight buzz,
Misplaced what made me who I was,
Or who I always meant to be,
When all was lost and I was free,
Consumed by his desire, your disease,
A gaze that burns but never sees,
Denial justified by thoughts of fate,
Either born too soon or died too late,
As love serves to magnify the flaws,
Forgive the sins, obscure the cause,
Use honesty to seed the lie,
Drunk driving through the needle’s eye,
And after all, and all it took,
I wasn’t worth a second look,
My only chance, your second choice,
The stars still imitate your voice,
But the song you sing is not for me.

So why is she still all I see?

I can only flicker until I burn out, can’t move on until I’m gone,
But you can never let it go if you still leave the porch light on,
Burn the forest down, the wedding gown, those drunken dreamers eyes,
Idolize each pretty failure, speak in riddles, believe in lies,
Another night of hesitation, across the room and sideways stares,
There’s only static on the station, but no one hears or no one cares,
Unblinking eyes along the ceiling, watching the voices in the walls,
Along a path now cracked and peeling, fire burns but engine stalls,
And there was never any way out, only places left to leave,
Shards of moonlight on the water, and a tear on sailor’s sleeve,
So drain a glass to faces we forgot, or friends we never knew,
Sail by the ash breeze of another, or become whatever’s left of you.

Neon exhales into the cold night air,
Just one more wounded sip,
A voice that never took her anywhere,
Still tugging at her lip,
Survive another day, let sight decay,
Move fast but never free,
Refuse to play, lose anyway,
For all the world to see.