Parallel

(album: The Gray Race - 1996)

sleeping on a time bomb, staring into space
there's an ocean of unpleasantries we are not prepared to face

sitting on the fence post to watch the storm roll in
and terrified of the damage it will bring when it begins
it will begin

splintered dreams of unity (our lives are parallel)
so far from reality (our lives are parallel)
independent trajectories (our lives are parallel)
separate terms of equality (our lives are parallel)

our lives are parallel

is there no redemption? no common good?
is there nothing we can do for ourselves? or only what we should?

comes the hard admission of what we don't provide
goes the insistence on the ways and means that so divide

they so divide

side by side suffering loneliness (our lives are parallel)
phony collective progress (our lives are parallel)
accepting that it's all such a mess (our lives are parallel)
gesturing without hope of redress (our lives are parallel)

our lives are parallel

forging little plays of deception and pain
as we watch our foundation crumble away
staggering like birds against a hurricane
and trying all the while to stay out of each other's way

broken dreams of unity (our lives are parallel)
independant trajectories (our lives are parallel)
screaming out for understanding (our lives are parallel)
turning inward and suffering (our lives are parallel)