Take me to the city, boy.
Take my hand and drag me along
with nothing but the clothes on my back-
I'm sure we'll be okay.

Take me away to where the lights are pretty
and the noise muffles our voices
and we can swim with the crowds.

Take me where anything is possible,
to where the money and fame
and stress and hectic are.

Take me away to the city, boy.
Take me away from the small town
too far from anything.

Take me from the normal,
from reality.

Take me to the city,
where we can be who we want
and they can't tell us no.

Take me to the city, boy.
we won't have to sleep
and we can keep smiling
and loving
and dreaming
so long as the lights stay on.

Take me to the city, boy.
it's all I've ever wanted.

Pull me out,
Pull me clean.
Drive me around,
You’re the best I have seen.

I can’t do it anymore in this stifling room,
I can’t take their faces anymore, their disapproval and doom.
You’re up at the top picking the ripest fruit,
And you hand some down to me to boot.

You like the way I have so much ambition,
I like the way you have made me your mission.

But what if I told you that all the ambition in the world,
Doesn’t help at all, in the heat of the night when my spine has curled.
You said you wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I don’t get free,
But I already can’t sleep at night because I can’t be me.

This isn’t just some teenage angst that drives our friends up the wall,
This is my need to be pulled to safety, away from the fall.
We can do this I know, we will get away from here,
One day my heart won’t be filled with this fear.

But right now, dear friend, I just need you to remind me again,
That it will all be ok, that they can’t spell my end.

Pull me up,
Pull me free.
Let me drink from your cup,
Please help me see the life that you see.

The curtain falls, a veil between
Thinly drawn emotions, more than they seem.

Her hair falls to shade a radiant face,
I cannot scream in a hollow place.

He loves me true, he loves me not.
The stage lights up, I want his passion hot.

Or cold?
She fears this is getting old.

In likeness of a failing fight,
Fly then run, walking through a torn night.

"It's normal" I say to the soul in my eyes,
But I cry that night, but everyone cries.

I don't think he does, and so do you,
On top of all this I must watch my own heart too?

It's normal I tell her, but this lie I have loved isn't
I bleed from my heart.
I plead for my art.
Is it normal to crash down, feeling so distant?

This play put on by us in youth,
This show of passions, far from absolute truth.

The vapor pours from their thin lips,
The smoke clears, black gold cascading from her hips.

Is it normal to crawl against the wall?
To bite at the night and scream and call?

Call for his name to pierce the dark,
To open the curtain, to erase the mark.

Her windows, thrown wide, show the same play as me,
And shut they hold all of my fragility.

That night I fought my own skirmish hard,
That night fate dealt you a burning card.

Is it normal? This lavish dance?
These worrying minds in the vast expanse.
It may not be normal. Or maybe, it is...
Maybe our minds are just torn like his.

I don't regret the way I breathed in your heart,
Or the way you gently held my hand in the dark.

I don't regret how it felt that morning, glowing with summers heat,
When we met in secret to feel our hearts beat.

That was the last time it felt real, and no I don't regret,
I just hope no matter where we are, that we don't forget.

You told me you wanted to kiss me,
As the river rushed and my flesh was no longer frozen,
My heart skipped and ran as I finally felt chosen.

But our lips never met and I don't regret,
How you told me that evening you were scared and you weren't ready yet.

I know what that meant, and I don't have some false hope,
But I won't regret and I don't have to cope.

You told me that you loved me,
But just as a friend.
Hey darling I understand, we don't have to pretend.

Maybe it wasn't meant to be,
But I loved every moment that I spent with you,
I know how you feel, I was scared out of my mind too.

I don't regret the way we awkwardly flirted,
Or the way it feels foolish looking back, your words bluntly blurted.

Honest and raw was our code of conduct,
I am messy and bleeding, who am I to instruct?

But regret? No, not for a moment.
I only hope that I still mean the world to you,
Just know that you mean the world to me too.

I want conversation and car rides,
long nights of green eyes.

I want pastries with whipped cream,
text messages that make me kiss the screen.

I want belted Frank Sinatra,
followed by Moonlight Sonata.

I want gifts I can't afford
that you bought when you were bored.

I want to be calmed and collected,
defended and protected.

I want knowledgeable open-minds,
loquacious words to be defined.

I want my hands to be called soft
and looked at more often

I want my neck to be smelled
then my face to be held.

I want impressed parents,
please share your organic carrots.

I want admiring looks
over the top of Ayn Rand's books.

I want a loss of words
over a song that you just heard.

I want minor disputes
over ideas that don't compute.

I want you to continue to listen
when I question your decisions.

I want button-ups and bowties
that make you different from most guys.

I want time to freeze
and for you to always need me.

I want envious stares
from people who shouldn't care.

I want effortless chemistry
to attract me helplessly.

I want tension filled days,
say you want me with a gaze.

I want my back to be a painting so scandalous
you brush your lips up and down the canvas.

I want clean, boring sheets
to be livened with heat

that I provided.

I want you to be excited

when I come around.

I deserve to breathe, I deserve to live,
But their calloused minds have nothing left to give.

"We have every right to fight for you"

Don't I have the right to fight for me too?

What you call a shield, feels like a sword.
What you think is best for me slices at this cord.
A cord now cut between you and I,
A silence that thickens the air inside.

I deserve to breathe, I deserve to live,
But they don't see all I have to give.

I am fighting a war that can't be won,
Time will set me free, on the run.
And all I want is to make them rage,
I scream for the freedom outside the cage.

I cannot breathe, stuck inside this cell,
My heart is breaking inside this shell.
You cut me off, you cut my soul,
You blocked the door to that which makes me whole.

I can't do this.
My locked up lungs have never breathed in bliss.