1.A Mistrust Earned
Confronting the lessons you wish you'd learned,
(A mistrust earned)
Riding the wheels you feared would turn
A mistrust earned, oh, a mistrust I earned
Fled the bedlam; scathed, I stagger on
A mistrust earned, oh, a mistrust I earned
Rushed to trust in the season,
My feet ran from Oh, where to begin!
Now stranded on shifting ground
Its pallor confounds then again, I've looked down
A Mistrust I Earned
2.Rebel Fatigues
Watching from the sidelines,
Dancing on the land mines,
Exploding through the headlines：
The new front is on the move.
Caught in the crosshairs of a war we didn't wage
Tanks roam the borders of this town,
Poised to restore what they tear down
Don't let their battles wear you down
They take the reins. I wonder：
Why do they parade in this season's rain？
Why do the seasons refuse to change？
The ceiling creaks, the hillside speaks：
Don't let me cling to history,
And more than that please don't take me back.
Still, the bombs rain down.
Tanks roam the borders of this town,
Poised to restore what they tear down.
Don't let their battles wear you down.
Everybody is singing so loud that
The crowds can be heard abroad.
At the American Universities
can't you hear how they're cheering us on？
The fruits of the revolution must only be days away
But still I feel it won't be long
until they're not asking anymore.
They're not asking anymore.
If today's the day we make their grade
Will the armies with draw or will they stay tomorrow？
Tanks roam the borders of this town
Poised to restore what they tear down.
Don't let their battles wear you,
Don't let their battles wear you down
Don't let their battles wear you down
3.Affidavit
He'll have you know,
That after ten hours spent in court,
You'll grow up knowing who you owe.
He treats you right,
And loved you more than his own wife.
Still, behind the Cutlass you kissed him goodbye.
He returned that night,
And still you don't feel love.
Your records won't reveal
What I went through to protect you
To keep you in my arms,
Safe from the harm we knew we caused you.
Habits stick, raised on divorce politics
Broken-home-grown isolation
Who do you love？
Who do you trust？
Why do we still have to ask？
Your mother'd die for you,
And still you don't feel love？
DCF don't know
Years that will define the way
You'll feel things down the line,
Just remember what it taught you.
And still you don't feel love？
4.Where The Waters Call Home
Like grass through cracked cement,
We move through spaces called
Difference and restriction.
These lines in the sand,
They divide the common land.
My friend, if the world can't fit in your hand
Maybe it's the way that you're squeezing,
Trying to trap a man inside his skin.
How can we know what oceans the waters call home？
And late at night do they swim there alone？
Come rescue the cold.
Born under barricades
Raised high to dam us.
You've built up these borders;
Can your fences contain
A tempered man's refrain that
Color and law are not what lives in a man's heart？
(And yet it sets us apart)
How can we know what oceans the waters call home？
And late at night do they swim there alone？
Come rescue the cold.
Mother of Exiles, You've turned many away
Oh, warm waters won't you rescue the cold？
Thaw the ice that hubris grows,
And when you break through I hope that it holds.
How can we know what oceans the waters call home？
And late at night do they swim there alone？
5.Ballots_Stones
You come out in droves;
Protectors of an ancient code.
You'd like to know
What would become of you and yours
If left alone.
So, with that pride destined to find
Itself on the wrong side of history,
You take arms.
Did you cast a ballot or a stone？
Did it cast a shadow on their home？
Let's go
To a place I know where men can share a home.
By now the world should know
That your factions and their romance with interference,
They have no business in these homes.
Did you cast a ballot or a stone？
Did it cast a shadow on their home？
Your slogans echo loudly
From Edmund Pettus Bridge.
Would you tear up like you did when the Lovings wed？
I'd give so much to see your assaults laid to rest.
Would they be mourned like the rightless ones you've vilified？
Because at their funerals,
When the priest gives the flag to her partner, she still cries.
Four years before the state gave them the right.
Four years before the state gave them the right.
Did you cast a ballot or a stone？
6.Marine Transgressions
In the midday you'll hear summer groan
Of how she misses years of old.
Her temperament's been stretched so thin,
Revealing signs of silent discontent.
Yet you pretend she likes it like this.
Don't turn it down;
Let the oceans rise high forever.
It's drowning out
The sounds of everyone whispering to each other
About where we will go when it overflows.
And I'm wondering...
How far from shore
Can we be sure
We won't be the ones going under
And I'm wondering...
For the others who stay afloat？
Don't turn it down;
Let the oceans rise high forever.
It's drowning out
The sounds of everyone whispering to each other
About where we will go when it overflows.
7.Young Professionals
Downtown waiting around
For no one in particular;
Tickled by the grazing eyes of bachelorettes and passersby.
You've been playing the part of the cultured and smart,
of clean-pressed shirts and a ruthless charm.
Oh, the cars pass by a bit slower just to take you in.
But that's surely no cause for concern.
Held close by the grip of the grind,
Cold sweat drips slow like your passing prime.
You shake its grip and take me aside
And you say to me,
I met a man who was free and he cautioned me,
Beware the man with only one book,'
I'm sure I took it the wrong way,
I'm sure I took it the wrong way.
Oh sweet young professional,
Your future sees you with such vacant eyes.
Your future sees you with such vacant eyes.
Down the road is someone there who's waiting for
Your well-intentioned scheme; will it be so well received？
Will you ache and lose your place when she takes you there？
Strips you of your unease： Inhibitions unleashed.
And we move on and on to different songs.
But it's been so long, your friends moved on,
Trying to find themselves somewhere along the way.
But that's surely no cause for concern
8.Overstayed
We stretched our skins over the rims;
Oh, how we beat ourselves to death.
The sound decays, spread too thin to resonate.
If we don't fold the wrinkles show
Each trepid movement, an intrusion onto sacred soil,
Now vacant from a welcome overstayed.
Our refuge fades away.
Burned out in verse, does it still carry worth？
How long can it last when each note hurts？
These hands still play
but who knew that would shake this way？
Will these tired strings still sing if we asked？
And what would they say？
Would they convey fears of echoes in distant halls,
Where forever and together
Have a meaning all their own？
Our refuge fades away.
9.Wither On The Vine
Something to survive
Decades of murder and maize remind
My every night,
I wrestle with the thought of their return.
To what will we owe our next relocation？
Tenants to their reevaluation
Of the ever-emerging threat,
We wither on the vine.
I rise; it does not shine.
In darkness, we're disappeared.
Still evening falls.
I hope my boy, he never understands
How the fields were fertile where the planes now land.
The road kids walked to school,
Now runways carrying the tools
They'll use to keep them down
As they wither on the vine.
I rise; it does not shine.
In darkness, we're disappeared.
Still evening falls.
How we wither on the vine.
I rise, but it don't shine.
No, it don't shine.
I remember the path that linked each home;
Though the road was narrow, it was ours to walk.
You had no right,
You had no right,
And you still don't.
10.Victory Lap
Making months into minutes,
I forget how fast I move
Knowing the engine won't last
if it never gets the chance to cool.
The whole ride home from Baltimore
I scanned the floor as not to see what passed.
I've watched so many
Run to the edge of the world just to
Find they never wanted to leave.
(Dying slow) And as they faced the ledge,
They finally got the chance to breathe.
We tried so hard
To send the daylight back to sleep.
But the night has fled,
And it's time to leave.
So slice myself in two
Just to leave her with a little piece.
(A souvenir) For all the promise ahead,
There's just as much in the rearview mirror.
The engine moves and I call to you, I'm alone.
It's been said, 'The boy's not right in the head.'
So don't bet on his impoverished venture westward,
Straying far from comfort to find
California's gold already mined,
And she's still waiting behind for you to come home.
11.Jerry Rumspringer
I want to know where all the summers go.
Do they pack up and move when you turn twenty-three？
Do they disconnect from the years they protected you
From youth's reckless speed？
Around the bend, they drew an end
Fending off the end (Start it all again)
Fending off the end (Start it all again)
Fending off the end (Start it all again)
I think I know where still the flowers grow.
They're under the van we bought when I turned seventeen：
A reminder of what can wilt and take longer yet to fade away.
A game hard to play,
But harder yet to walk away：
Fending off the end (Start it all again)
Fending off the end (Start it all again)
Fending off the end (Start it all again)
If, to support yourself, you had to turn your back
On the only support you ever had,
That's the cost of feeling safe.
I don't know if I'll want to a play a show
At the close of those forty-hour weeks,
And if that's the cost of feeling safe,
Then let this be our leap of faith：
Every kid in Wallingford is trying to borrow
lead shoes to make their way down to the bottom
of the Quinnipiac to fend off
The hurtful end of adolescence, until then, we tread.
12.War On A Feeling
Refused to find the stars aligned
In skies ripe for misleading;
Reserve them my contempt.
And worlds behind their obscured lights,
Confidence depleted
In hopes that you won't find us retreating.
The more I stalled, suburban sprawl kept creeping ever closer,
Forewarned though I had been.
A family's ware, so unprepared to cope with their confinement.
It reminded me of the times
When I sit down and cry,
And hope you find someone who won't hurt you
As much as I know I do.
Twenty-five years down the line,
Means a hundred changing seasons：
Do you fear what might well pass？
It subsides, like how the better part of me dies.
I'm missing what the days have been stealing,
Staring up at the ceiling, waging war on a feeling.
Half-asleep machinery, the city's always driving;
Shouldn't you be too？
Motown, don't it hurt to know
Your best days are behind you？
But that midnight oil still burns.
It subsides, like how the better part of me dies
I'm missing what the days have been stealing,
Staring up at the ceiling, waging war on a feeling.
Share an evening treat on a roadside near：
I go to watch things disappear.
And we find time to wonder why things won't feel right.
(Without escape the hostage waits)
With drawn out wars on several fronts,
You might find one worth winning.
Do you fear what might well pass？
It subsides, like how the better part of me dies.
I'm missing what the days have been stealing,
Staring up at the ceiling, waging war on a feeling.
Waging war on a feeling.
Waging war on a feeling.
Waging war on a feeling.
| 
