Don't you dare mistake me for something that I'm not
Don't ever underestimate all that I am
Every time you think that I'm just an afterthought
I come back like cancer again and again
Ill never stop fighting
To give up is to die
Life is a battle; a beautiful battle
Fighting makes me feel so alive
So strive, everyone reach
For your goals and your dreams
No matter how impossible they might seem
The world will do its best to make sure you break
Show how much you can take and put the world in its place
Do all that you can to not just survive but thrive
It's the journey itself that makes us feel alive
People will mistake you for things you are not
People will underestimate all that you are
Live for yourself, live in the moment
Find your own self in your own heart
Love freely
Fight fiercely
Carve out your place on this earth
And fight for it; you own it
It's what you deserve
Don't let the length of the road ahead
Or the dark twists and turns throw you off track
Be all that you can be; forge ahead
You don't ever have to look back
And if you feel like you are in an inescapable hole
Remember it's all in what you make of it; you don't have to be alone

How did I let myself go down to that place?
Dying slowly as I sped up and down the interstate
Everything had been great
Until reality came crashing with all it's weight
And I felt like a waste
Bleeding out half dead and disgraced
Forever hopeless forever displaced
My dreams shattered and misplaced
They all died there in that place
The searing memory of the look on your face
As I screamed and clawed at the ground
Just trying to plead my case
Withdrawal set in, from the drugs and from myself
I didn't foresee ever getting out
Normalcy didn't exist for me; it hurt so bad I shout
And screamed and clawed at the ground
Do you know what its like to dig a hole so deep
That from the inside it looks just like a grave
And you know you might not make it out alive
After all the love you gave
At that point my only choice was to be brave
I knew that God wouldn't come and save me
As I am standing here before you can you see
That that person is not who I wanted to be
I dug myself out of my own grave and I'm alive
I've been through so much and I've survived
You aren't the only one who is surprised
I was sure I would die by 25
Somehow now I am here with you today
I am damaged now but I know I'll be ok
And I'm ready to get going on our way
Through treacherous roads to a better place
A place where we are sound and safe
Where the darkness only comes when it is late
If you look closely you can see the dirt under my nails
Do you know what that dirt entails?
Its a sign that life is so frail
I was buried alive but I refused to fail
I'm stronger now, and smarter too
I've learned from what I've been through
Now there is only one thing left to do
Have to keep pushing onward upward always
Through harsh nights and desolate days
Through mist and through mistakes you've made
Don't ever stop climbing up
Don't ever admit that you've had enough
Even if you have to dig yourself up
And out of a grave that you dug yourself
Even if maybe you think you belong there
If you give up you'll die
I know it's hard but dig yourself out of the grave
Keep living so you can feel alive

It's so much colder here in the morning
The rain is cold and the sky isn't blue
It's so much colder everywhere in the morning
Lying anywhere without you
I know you will be happy when your with me
And with you I will finally feel alive
We've both got baggage and the right to be
Able to decide to just put it all aside
On the day we finally meet
On the day that I finally hold you
In my broken down embrace
I'll never want to leave you there
Without me with you in that broken down place
My life won't ever be the same
Just like my past will forever be stained
But you and I will be ok
And I know we are both afraid
Of the thought that we might be making a mistake
Of the possibility of a high price to be paid
Even with the risk looming overhead
It's a chance I'm more than willing to take
If we don't jump off the edge
That could be the biggest mistake of all
Our happiness could fall
right by the wayside; with all the times they lied
and told it was wrong when we knew it was right
But still I have this plight
My past is just that; it's the past
And yes its filled with broken memories of dreams that shattered just like glass
I lived a life that was hard and fast
I barely made it through the other end intact
So I'm sitting on a cold morning
With my baggage and I'm so blue
It's so much colder everywhere in the morning
When I'm dying without you
So please, love, do your best to get here soon
And I will travel to you by the light of the moon
And I will hold you so close; so soon
Forever changed tomorrow at the strike of noon
I hope I don't scare you away
With all of the horrible things I did do and say
Because the past is the past
And the future begins for us right here today
I will never ever leave you
I always want to be by your side
I'll help you carry your baggage
while I'm hoping we can get past mine
I don't want to be cold in the morning
I want to know that everything is fine
I don't want every morning to be so cold
I just want to know that you are mine

You want me to name your flaws?
How could I ever do that?
I see no flaws or imperfections,
All I see is your beauty.
The way you smile,
only showing your perfectly straight,
top row of teeth.
And the crinkles by your eyes
when you smile even more.
How you laugh.
Always squinting your eyes
and laughing at the dumbest things.
Then you try to hold it in
but then burst out laughing your beautiful,
sometimes obnoxious laugh.
It's your eyes.
Even though they're covered,
by that fake blue.
Brown or blue I die a little more,
Every time they meet mine.
It's everything about you.
I could explain each and every
little thing you do.
That I admire so much
and find to be beautiful and perfect.
But I never see flaws.
Because you are truly flawless
in every single way,
and everything you do.

As I lay here I think of how I couldn't lie to you
How I just want to provide for you
How I would gladly die for you
A million miles away, through all of time and space
You're the only thing I think of while I'm lying here awake
You are the only one I dream of when I'm sleeping in this place
Soon, so soon, it will just be me and you
You and I, side by side, consoling each other at the end of time
I will be the man of your dreams; you're already the woman of mine
I have never laid eyes on a soul so sweet and fine
Our conversations make the world around me seem sublime
And though  I have never held you in a loving embrace
Or had the chance to wipe the tears of the past off of your face
The moment is coming, and I eagerly await
for the destined day when I sit on the train so that we can learn our fate
I am possibly the luckiest man on the face of the entire earth
to be able to talk to you every morning; its the thing that I do first
When you send me your parting message at the end of every day
My heart melts into puddles and I smile; everything else goes away
I just want you to know dear, that with your heart I won't play
It is possible that our heart have been on a collision course
from the very beginning of time
I hope you will give me your heart
You already have all of mine
I am riding in on my big silver horse
So soon, my love, so soon
I just want to whisk you away to a place we can stay
Where I can give you the sun and the moon

I could have ripped my heart right out of my chest
Or given you a million valid means of protest
and you still would have left
Your absence is so obvious; it haunts me while I sleep
It clouds over every moment and rips a hole so black and deep
Its killing me, such a silent assassin striking from the depths
How do you even question why I am depressed?
You walked out, all alone, much to my dismay
and obliterated everything you could along the way
Left me for dead; between the lines you read
between the lines is where I struggled for days
Just to make it out of the fire and into the abyss
Maybe it is just the abuse that I most miss
The soul ******* series of never ending mirrors
A lie behind every one, nothing ever seeming clearer
I was three feet away from you when you left me forever
I should have known, you *******, you were always very clever
When I woke up to your mom screaming in my face
I woke up to an entire life of feeling pure disgrace
I let you down, and you were the very best
friend I ever had
And all the ****** or money or god
Can never bring you back
You left me here on this earth alone
to wither and die with a heart of stone
And I will never forgive you for as long as I live
Because I will never be able to forgive
myself

These things you said to me,
I was hoping they would set me free.
Instead I sit here with wandering mind;
My heart is really in quite the bind.

I think that I should be happy,
But instead I feel a little empty.
Whether or not this is worth it:
I guess I'll find out bit by bit.

So I'll turn my music a little louder,
Pull back my shoulders and stand a little prouder.

Life goes on, with or without you.

Do you think that your safe
From the everyday tragedies that
inflict wounds upon the people for all of eternity?
That memory burns in me. The towers went down
Watching in shock no one dared made a sound
They ******* burned to the ground
And we had to go to war
Not since pearl harbor had this happened on our shore
The very heart of America tore
As we watched desperate people jump from windows up high
Our collective conscious couldn't understand why
so many innocent people had to die
People with families communities and homes
Pictures of their last moments the news couldn't leave alone
Twelve years later it still brings tears to my eyes
The day that changed America forever with planes in the skies
Rest in peace lost souls; you will never be forgotten
You are in a better place now, and you didn't die for nothing