I'm not good at taking it slow
But I hope you know
Waiting isn't something I do well
But I'll wait for you, Annabelle

So many years since the day
I heard you say
"It's not time for us just yet"
And never did I once forget
That you were out there as well
As I waited for you, Annabelle

Time goes on and so it did
Just like you said
"It's not now or never"
But I said I'd wait forever
In all the time between heaven and hell
I'll wait for you, Annabelle

It's not easy for me to stand
As he takes your hand
But as long as he treats you well
I'll wait for you, Annabelle

Pain brings out the best in people
And somewhere in between
In the middle of good and evil
Is the most beautiful thing you've ever seen
She radiates on golden airwaves
Among the valleys of time
And halfway down heaven's stairway
She blows your doubtful mind

There's dishonesty in honest men
Somewhere beyond the grave
And when they get lost in it
There's no woman they can save
If falling for you is wrong
Then I don't want to be right
Sing with me, uncertainty
And stay with me tonight

It's not like it's gone / it doesn't disappear
I catch your name in the voices that I hear
Passion and love speak but don't understand
That neither of them go hand in hand

I've had a lot / to tell you about
You cannot hear me if I would whisper or shout
The silence is here / it follows me home
I wonder, my dear, if you are alone
If I were to come and be there with you,
Would we do what we always do?

I promised my heart / I gave you my mind
I was nervous to see what you'd find
I haven't changed / my mind's still the same
It still carries the weight of your name

Have you ever felt like a child in the dark?
Where the whispers become thunder and the gods pound in your heart?
There's no sense in trying to quiet the storm
All that can be done is to embrace it with both arms

I feel like a traveller stumbling on a chest
Filled with something familiar but I can't quite place it yet
I found a picture lying in the dirt
As my mind was turned on by the velvet colored shirt

Some time ago, when my hair reached my eyes
I recall a quick visit that seemed to disappear and die
No matter how hard I try to remember
I can't come up with reasons I gave up that cold September

Now, as time's gone by, and things have changed
Like the inflections of my voice and memories estranged
I hear a voice from many Septembers ago
Like a harmony so rich that I can't wait to know

It's like a diamond stake pushed through the silence of my brain
It's like a thunder of voices coming down like a hurricane
It's like a forest of gunfire blowing past my bedroom door
It's like the force of a god pushing down on my floor

Whip smart, by all accounts, but lost beneath the sheets
Forced out of a comfort zone and pushed out to the streets
Spastic changing voices like a record out of line
Just speak like you always do and don't **** with my mind

I'm like a tidal wave that only gets halfway there
No shore to erode with no Taiwan to even care
I'm like a promise left on the kitchen table after dawn
Someone will find it but it will be thrown out on the lawn

Born without a spoon but there is silver in my teeth
I'm made out of as much spirit as a plastic, clearance wreath
Dust beneath the stars cancels out the dawning sun
Shine on the bums, the prophets, everyone

Blind Willie Johnson strums six strings a day
He drinks with the woman who taught him to play
He spells out his secrets in the songs that he sings
And breathes his life onto six rusty strings
Blind Willie Johnson brings home the blues
Blind Willie Johnson will wail the blues to you

The brothel he grew up in is tearing down the walls
He's got so many memories of those smokey halls
His mama could be there or she could be dead
He's got no pictures, just anecdotes instead
Blind Willie Johnson said he don't know a thing
Except for the truth in the blues that he sings

Blind Willie Johnson ain't really blind at all
He's just got those gray eyes from years of alcohol
He stares into the smoke of a Friday night crowd
Who stare back at him as his stories ring out
Blind Willie Johnson doesn't cover up a thing
Listen to his pain in the blues that he sings

"Blind Willie Johnson" reads the graveyard stone
Under the blanket of the sky, Willie rests alone
Though his voice is lost underneath the ground
The world will never forget Blind Willie's sound
Blind Willie Johnson sang the way he felt
He never complained about the hand he was dealt

You're just a ****** victim
But you can't convict him
For breaking a heart that was untrue
When you were silent then
He never came back again
And all he ever blamed was you

It seems you're the bleeding heart
That he tore apart
But you found your way to another
And when it's all said and done
You are the only one
Crying over a departed lover

I step in the morning with horizon-fixed eyes
Underneath the December rain
I'm feeling good and no one knew I would
Because they only focus on pain

They frown and drown under the weight of it all
Yet they don't understand
I'm fine, just fine, and if I'm not, I'll call
Life is but a grain of sand

Somedays are perfect but no week can be
Even moments have ups-and-downs
Some let small grow big and tall, but me?
Only death will bring me frowns

Being aware of mortality is the greatest gift we have
Never forget that this precious thing ends
And with that in mind and if you remember that
On nothing but love will your life depend

Last time I was here I was waiting
For the perfect storm to come
I saw it from the cafe
And under lightning, I had to run
As the porcelain lay broken
Under the feet of weary eyes
Last time I was here I was waiting
For somebody to make me cry

Last time I was here I was burning
Under strangely colored lights
If only I did some learning
From all the previous wasted nights
And as I tried to forget the voices
That never seem to go away
Last time I was here I was burning
But I tell everyone I'm okay

Last time I was here I was broken
Like I've never been before
I can still smell the smoke and,
I can still hear the door
But as I still remember
All the things from before
Last time I was here I was broken
I'm not broken anymore

In light I saw a face
It took me out of place
It was within my taste
I need to get closer to her

In love with music too
It's all happening at the zoo
And every word she knew
I need to get closer to you

Tonight, we made our way
All the love just went away
I don't know what to say
I need to get further from you

I wish I could explain
Why you're in so much pain
I can't control my brain
I need to get further from you
I don't what else I can do
I need to get further from you

Twenty-six hours ago, I forgot your name
But I always liked your style and that hasn't changed
Important things have come and important things have gone
But it's the way you talk that keeps me hanging on
I'm still early in knowing you so well
Oh Annabelle, I can tell

There's characters becoming who they are to you
Getting lost in your words and on paper too
Some of them are sirens singing gospel by the stream
Some of them are dying in recurring dreams
I'm still early in knowing you so well
Oh Annabelle, I can tell

The coffee is warm and smells of Christmas Day
The snow falls on the street lights and on our face
The traffic tries to cover up the things you say
But I know how to listen before the wind takes you away
I'm still early in knowing you so well
Oh Annabelle, I can tell

It hasn't been a long time since things sure have changed
Someone else's memories still echo with your name
There's never a good time to start it all again
But until then, once again, I want to be your friend
I'm still early in knowing you so well
Oh Annabelle, I can tell

I see sadness in your eyes
You've yet to tell me the reason why
And as you turn your head and cry
I hold out my hand to make it right

I've got a feeling in mind
I'm who you're trying to find
And to that which you are blind
Looks deep into your eyes

I see sadness in your eyes
Now it's got me hypnotized
I want to be there when you cry
I want to be there when you die

I'm no longer just a friend
And I'll come back to you again
Love never does make sense
Until the story's told in the end

As the choir breathes and fires freeze
As the sun kneels on the highways of what's real
There's a soldier of broken love
Standing on the King's Landing above

There's dim lights on his skin-tight
jeans, and it's reflected in Ray-Ban eyes
He stares off as the coffee drops
Into her cup and she doesn't even look up

And now is now somehow

The night cries as the winter dyes
The windows in frost and loss
The LED is bad company
Its arms aren't warm and it dies in storms

And now is now somehow

Words inside the head are never said
Life beyond the grave is never saved
The door is never opened by the wind
Love never fought for never begins

Send my dreams to the paper press
I've got too much to confess
This whole mind is a mess
And it's mine
It's all I could find
As I was spending too much time
Screaming and crying

**** my brothers in the Middle East
Let their souls be released
As the mongrel dogs have a peaceful feast
On our blood
Down in the mud
When it's someone you don't love
You don't even shrug

Break my bones over color pride
Don't you see what I have inside?
For my thoughts, I must die
Or else I'm a joke
Lost within the smoke
If I'm not rich then I must be broke
A dying man unknown

Make the streets a place of peace
Instead of hate and bombing grease
Power only makes us weak
To ourselves
To you and myself
Take a long look at yourself
And you can tell

The morning comes and someone's gone
Sent away to a funeral song
They lost their life being young
And still bright
Now they only see the night
As their mother tries to sleep at night
Without life

I'm dead and gone someday soon
But still I love each sun and moon
As they pass over my room
I kneel down
I start to look around
I start to love everything I've found
And I'm proud

The sun sets on dripping blood
Shed for love
And brought out from a gun
Elizabeth is close to death
Drawing final breaths
She was so fine and so young

Pedro runs across the barroom floor
Bursting through the door
On his way to the border by the sea
His hand is still hot from rage
There's nothing left to save
All he can do is flee

Now that heaven can finally breathe
Resting on the sea
While Pedro hides away from law
Elizabeth wore Pedro's golden ring
Along a silver string
Yet she moaned among the farmer's straw

Pedro shed the lonely tears
Of a love lost in years
He made a promise that he kept
As he read aloud the vows she wrote
With the heart she broke
The sun set as he wept

I'm a quiet little burden
On the stoop of your door
You can't let me go
But you don't want more
I've been your friend for years now
I've been there by your side
I ran across town
When I heard you cry
Love me, darling
Don't ask why

We've got a lot to ruin
We've got a lot to lose
We could dance together
Or get lost in the blues
There's enough for me
To forget all of that
If it ends tomorrow
Friendships come back
Love me, darling
Love me back

I'm a starry-eyed
Romantic inside
You know me well
And you can tell
By the words I write
And send to you
So, please, tonight
Say you love me too
Love me, darling
Say it's true

Pity hurts worse than death

There's a sign on your door
It said "don't come in anymore,
I'm still changing"
It broke your heart
To watch me fall apart
But you can't help the way you feel
Only you know if it's real

The Fort Meyers sun
Burns on your hair
The horizon gets the privilege of your stare
The sky turns to gray
When you look away
You can't help the way you feel
Only you know if it's real

Dance, little sister, in the Gulf of Mexico
Break a heart or two
Break them all and once they're long ago
I will be there for you

Take a risk, darling
Make this mistake
How long does affection take?
There can be a million miles
Between two states of mind
But I need to tell you what's in mine
I'm running out of time

I don't want to be another guy who writes love sick poems about the girl he loves
Why can't I just be?
Why can't I just think?
They become the same old song
The same old line after line
With broken-hearted solemnity overshadowed by immaturity

I will now become a man that no longer waits in the dark for someone to bring me a light
I will make my own light
I will make my own breaks
I will fight for what I want
I will live with how it ends
Or I will smile when it lasts

I will face what I want and I will let it be known how I feel without ambiguity or veils
I will face my fears
And I will forget they exist
If love ends forever
Then forever is not for me
Today I am a man, naked and known

The time temple drags along a mirrors edge
It breaks itself on the window ledge
I came undone as you came to my door
The movement bleeds out to the street
Like a dancing child on tiny feet
My young belief says to follow you once more

**** me, brother, **** me now
**** me, brother, strike me down
I can't go on without her anyhow

The distance starts where the love began
A simple touch of her simple hand
Tear down these walls please, for me
It's been too long and I'm strung out now
Either come to me or throw me out
Just let me know so I can finally breathe

Deep beside the bedside light
Eyes red and dead sleep to fight
There's a country song on the radio
And it's one I heard long ago
She sang it once on the way to the north
And she always moved back and forth

She fell for a starry eyed guy
Yet he never learned to cry
He built his life away from her
And she chased his allure
All across the countryside
He made her cry
And as she would cry to me
I built a love no one could see

Sometimes, as the night falls in
And the paranoia begins
She'll send me thoughts of pain
To pour them down my drain
And when I give her all I have
All I have and all I am
She falls asleep by dreams
That I have made and he will breathe

See that moon up in the sky
It shines desire into your eye
As the fire burns where you lie
Mi querida, let's go dancing tonight

Save the morning for siestas with me
Together is where we should be
Save the evening for beautiful dreams
Mi querida, my madrigal queen

Have a moment to quietly pray
Close your eyes and hear the band play
You light up the dark cabaret
Mi querida, together we sway

As the night comes to a close
And the city is still on our clothes
You smile at me and my heart grows
Mi querida, I hope that you know

Is there a version of yourself I can steal?
Speak your language so I know that it's real
Tell me now, is this how you feel?
You angel, you

I am content with the way that we are
Friends can sometimes take things too far
But you are my one shining star
You angel, you

I feel the glow of your ebony hair
Dancing in the sweet summer air
Waving and gracing my true lover's stare
You angel, you

Feel the rumble rhythms start to play
Feel me close as we start to sway
I don't want to throw heaven away  
You angel, you

My humanity's in jeopardy every single day
Do I have the right clothes?
Do I have the right nose?
Did I say what I should say?

I'm constantly worried and in such a hurry
Did I make my own meal?
Did I work or did I steal?
Should I open up or conceal?

I'm always tired from pent up desire
I'm listening to the hum
From the people and their guns
Trying to ruin all my fun

I'm being told that love won't grow old
But it's stifled and stopped
These floating heads talk
About it around the clock

I'm just weary from always being cheery
I want to be alone
Not chained to a phone
Or hearing the public groan

If I'm 21 now then I'm too dumb anyhow
To fall in love or work
I'm just a coffee clerk
Spit on my college shirt

My self-worth isn't tied to this earth
It's tied to a wire
That leaves cities on fire
I can't get any higher

I feel like a little boy playing with little toys
Why do I have a voice,
If I don't have a choice?
Am I just radioactive noise?

We love each other
That's all we have in common

As the sun reaches the other pearl shores
Your eyes are waited on by the universe's starry doors
It's okay to say that you miss me, you see
But you'd better miss all of me

Miss the way that I talk about you
Miss the way I laugh and the way I croon
Miss my voice when it sings out of tune
Miss my touch when we lie under the moon

As the stars blink into the sun
Your life is young and it hasn't yet begun
Do you remember the good times or bad?
Do you miss me or just a companion to be had?

Miss my paranoia about the way you feel
Miss the darkest things I tried to conceal
Miss the spirit of my unconfined relief
Miss my questions and my constant disbelief

Are the things that you remember too old?
Did you coat the dust in veneer crusted gold?
Are your memories too good to be true?
You say you miss me but really, you miss you

Let's get some sunlight
Let's start a bar fight
We'll take our problems and forget we have to solve them
Let's take two tabs
Let's start a **** lab
We'll cover up insecurity with promiscuity

Let's sleep 'til Sunday
It's only Monday
I have to work at 2 but I think I have the bird flu
Let's call the drug store
Ask for a couple more
Insignificant reality crashes into banality  

Let's make a hash pipe
Out of Brite Lites
We'll quote Pulp Fiction with Ezekiel's conviction
Let's start a fight club
Where we can make love
Punch me in the ear and then I'll disappear

Let's start a new life
But after midnight
There's a whole universe waiting to be uncovered first
Let's make a difference
Let's make new friends
Let's go where the wind blows but first I have to put on clothes

Softer in the morning like the light of the sun
Don't worry about today until tomorrow's done
Light up your eyes and sleep on the run
Where we will be isn't for anyone,
but Us

Climb into my mind and make yourself at home
I'm not strong enough to ever be alone
Sing me that song so long ago I wrote
Poison me to sleep and swirl me like smoke,
and don't rush

I've got a bourbon headache in my weary eyes
Let's go to the city and dance across the sky
Drop another line with acid in our smiles
In dreams and in life, let's die awhile,
before we live

Tomorrow isn't here until I come alive
Send me the curses from yesterday's drive
Memories from a ***** whiskey dive
Is that my face in someone else's eyes?
Or is it his?

Midnight just stands there
It watches me with a stare
She doesn't like to sleep
Yet she sleeps with everyone but me

I'm calm as it storms
In this mental fire I am warm
I'm not without but within
As I let midnight in

There's a hollow in the sounds
Resounding through the pounds
Of my insomniac heart  
In the silky black dark

She was made in the light
But lives in darkest night
Solemn and upright
Like a high-end socialite

She makes me feel alive
Before the sun slowly dies
A martyr for my dreams
But nothing's what it seems

It's hard to say you've missed someone
When they're standing right in front of you
You can remember all the bad things
But you can forget the good they do

It's easy to say that I'm in love with you
While I see you walking away
The burden doesn't even stay with you
Because you're gone and far away

I'm leaving tomorrow
But I'm staying today
Before the dawn
I'll be gone away
No one watches me walk away
I'm leaving tomorrow
But I'm staying today

I've put myself
In the shape I'm in
My head is heavy
And my body's thin
Will someone please let me in?
I'm leaving tomorrow
But I'm staying today

I'm wearing rags
In sleeping bags
I'm drinking coffee
With homeless hags
I don't mean to be a drag
I'll be leaving tomorrow
Can I stay the day?
Please don't throw me away

Finally a place to rest awhile
Smoked and frayed with a hazy smile
Focused on the next few miles
Towards the Great Northwest
Where I can finally rest

The aisles smell of cheap perfume
Like the long entrance to a tomb
Made of rose bushes in full bloom
Instead it's just the *****
Something I intend to use

The mountains still meditate
While I pay the motel rates
But I can't stay a minute late
I'll just skip the bill
Slip out the windowsill

I wish this road would never end
I feel like I'm back home again
But what's around this railroad bend?
Maybe I'll find a home
Or a love I've never known

There's a prophet on the railway
He's coming with a book
Written by a woman
And blessed by a crook
The station's been preparing
For his arrival, coming soon
He doesn't know a single person
In the town under the moon

His robes are made of velvet
And his chains out of gold
His eyes look about a hundred
Yet he's only twenty-two years old
His hands are un-calloused
With pages stapled to his chest
In his mind he believes
That he alone knows best

His name came from Berkley
But he hails from the south
His mother gave him nothing
So he found his own way out
In the dead of the night by his candlelight
He heard a voice calling him
It told to me ride north
And let the people rejoice him

On their Sunday feast he sets down his feet
In a town of simple heads
He gets on a podium
And he lifts them from their beds
He promises them redemption
He promises them the end
And with just a touch of his hand
He promises they'll be heaven sent

It's been six long years
And his statue's turning green
Just like his money
Which lights his swisher sweets
He knows his just a man
Made of flesh and rotten skin
He knows this and yet
He's the one who wins

See those red windows by Midland Park
Where the schoolyard stands empty in the frozen dark
See that Neon motor in 21st gear
And the only question is "why are we here?"
In memory motel with unchanging rates
I still see the Moon Glow in your face

By the edge of the stream with bread in hand
Two doves chase the wind to a foreign land
As our voices are carried to a teenage past
In naïve reclusion we knew couldn't last
With a palette of hate I still can taste
I still see the Moon Glow in your face

Weathered storms on a Parisian stage
The book can't be written unless you turn every page
On a worn out, de-facto, company car
The diamonds will promise to make you a star
In sovereign rule of my mind's estate
I still see the Moon Glow on your face

On Ebony's wings coming down from the sky
Miracle rides close behind
The waves from Mexico have long since passed
No moment is forever and it won't be the last
With ocean eyes and a passioned embrace
I still see the Moon Glow in your face

This cursor is staring at me
But it doesn't understand it's flocking to me
Waiting for me to come up with gold
But before I do, I have to get old
I'm too young to have any wisdom
And I'm not sure how to get some
Does age define a mature mind?
Or is the way you live your life?

Writer's block ticks like clocks
While tired eyes wish it'd stop
Finding hope in midnight thoughts
That get lost in parking lots
Begin with a cliché and pray
That it won't just be cast away
Print your heart and make it hurt
For rolling eyes are so much worse

There's a chill in the air and wind 'neath your boots
There's clouds in the sky and trees with roots
If all were to fall onto your crying head,
Would you carry it home or lie down dead?
The strength you have defines your choice
Will you whimper and cry or show your voice?
Through sorrow and pain and happiness and joy
You either run and hide from all those you employ
Or show them what you're made of inside
For what you do becomes who you have to hide
Not what you say with fury or a gentle tone
But the actions you take when you're all alone
When you're down and out, almost recluse
And you feel as if you have no use
If you still get up and challenge yourself
You will become prisoner to no one else

There's a song in the air and dirt 'neath your boots
A song that carries on down to your roots
Back from the days of no chores or worry
When nothing was done in any sort of hurry
You can hear these words in the back of your mind
And it takes you back to a simpler time
These little moments, spontaneous and surreal
Show you how you can always feel
Feel good and joyous even through the worst
When tired and hungry, they give you thirst
These little moments are found throughout life
They can break you free from worldly strife
And these things define who you were before
And change who you are to forever something more
Harkening back to when you were innocent and clean
Can make you try your best to better your scene

Your moments in life are yours to keep
When daydreaming or your lost in sleep
The worst will come and so will the best
The dark before the dawn always sets to the west
You can succumb to the pain that comes with years
Or you can fight back the stress and fight back the tears
Through everything that comes your way
Only you can change how you live out your stay
Others will come and others will leave
But what holds together is what you believe
Strength is within and without you
Within is taken while without is beside you
Hold onto a grain of meaningless sand
And notice how it's light in your hand
Just for that moment it's harmless and vain
But if you hold on forever it builds into pain

I fell asleep on a runaway train
Trying not to go insane, oh no
I felt alive but couldn't decide
If I wanted to live or die
Or spend another night / without you

I boarded as the sun went down
And there was no one else around, oh no
I slept against the windowpane
Hearing dreams and the falling rain
As I ride towards nowhere, without you

The endless fields go on and on
Like the pain when you said so long, oh no
I held in my weary hand
The letters of a lost romance
The words all seem empty, without you

As the sun rose in the East
From my dreams I've been released, oh no
The rhythm of the railway car
Makes me wonder where you are
And if I'll be alright, without you