Don't Sell Me Short

(album: The New America - 2000)

we don't need any more mountains
because the trail builders
failed to give us passage there
so we can't reach the sky
we don't need any more failure
there is human tragedy
that's written everywhere
and we are all too young to die
like a mystery that's here to stay
some people never go away
cuz they've got something to say
don't sell me short!
you've been wrong too long
don't brush me off
just because I don't belong
like it or not I'm all you've got,
dispose when I'm shot
just don't sell me short,
I might not be who you thought
we don't need any more fables
because the writers have passed
and left us lessonless
and we must find our own way
we don't need any more privilege
there is vivid desperation
that is powerless
that no surplus can repay
like the fix of rapture in a trance
oh, fates are sealed by circumstance
so you've got to take a chance
don't sell me short!
you've been wrong too long
don't brush me off
just because I don't belong
pass me on by, ignore my cry,
forget me when I die
just don't sell me short,
not while I'm still alive
everybody's talking about heaven on earth,
I'm still trying to figure out
just what I'm worth
I'm full of emotion
and stuff you can't contain
and you just want to
flush me down the drain
but you can't make me go away