Watch Me Read You

(Album: To A Stranger - 2018)

Watch me read you
The turning pages of an epic
Dissected hallucinogenic
Black coffee addict
Life, ended lies
Cold on that metal tray
Wasting away
I watch him sneer at me
From beyond the grave
I hear him call for me

Watch me read you
I get scared when it falls dark
The creeping shadows up my arm
The sneaking scarecrows
Work their charm
But circumstantial
The way I blink when you get mad
Feel disarmed when you get sad
But turn to run when we fall back
On old behaviors

When the flavor turns from sweet to sour
That's the hour that I seek
The heavy hearts
And tired retreats
With words of hatred
Watch it seep through skin
Like sap through bark
I cower in the dark
Til your return
When will I learn?

We never wanted to be more than just a silhouette
Breathing the smoke from others mouths and lying in the dirt
So make a promise but then later we can just forget
It's hard to let your breath out when you're used to holding it

She'll go (ohh)
Got out through the window (ohh)
It's her (ohh)
Maybe it's a shadow (ohh)

You never wanted to be more than just a silhouette
But when you cry the light reflects and I see you again

"The beautiful colors of the people's faces…"
"…and the way they sat on top of those necks"

Watch me read you
Like words ripped right off the page
Another ghost, another day
Of melancholy, UV rays
And heavy eyelids
You just decided not to care
Compressed your fears
And cut your hair
Lifted your shirt
To find there's nothing there

Now read me:
Red wine, copper stained
With curly hair and crazy eyes
Impulsive mouth
She loves the rain
But not the dark
You feel insane
The overpass is wet with blood
She turns to you to say
"Hey. We can't exist"

And in that moment, it's just bliss
It's like you've missed
A thousand years and as you kiss
It's like you drift
Between here and there
Between real and fake
As I hold my breath I can't see your face
Watch me read me,
Read you, read them, read us:
Everyone's a burning book on
Trust and lust and love and what we are and what we're made of

We never wanted to be more than just a silhouette
Breathing the smoke from others mouths and lying in the dirt
So make a promise but then later we can just forget
It's hard to let your breath out when your used to holding it

She'll go (ohh)
Got out through the window (ohh)
It's her (ohh)
Maybe it's a shadow (ohh)

You never wanted to be more than just a silhouette
But when you cry the light reflects and I see you again

So don't just see me
Oh surround me
It's getting harder, babe, to focus on just one thing
It's enigmatic
Truly astounding
The way we stand together
But we are still drifting
You are so absent
But you consume me
And when the sun goes down the night it wraps around me
You try to stand still
I can't help moving
You're like the moon that draws the tide that rushes through me

We never wanted to be more than just a silhouette
Breathing the smoke from others mouths and lying in the dirt
So make a promise but then later we can just forget
It's hard to let your breath out when your used to holding it

She'll go (ohh)
Got out through the window (ohh)
It's her (ohh)
Maybe it's a shadow (ohh)

You never wanted to be more than just a silhouette
But when you cry the light reflects and I see you again
(Ohh)
I see you again
(Ohh)

I watch you read me
The burning pages of my life
Reduced to ash and overnight
I find my body
Is not mine