SUNRISE MOTEL
Here's that blank wall - the time I had been drifting
Suddenly when all those grounding forces starting lifting
Here's that black ice - the splatter from the slide
Where the battles I had fought were all inside

Now complications seem to arise every time I open my eyes
No matter what distractions I devise
(day by day) Everybody's lives seem organized
(night by night) But I'm falling apart every time I arise

Telling this tale as "child rescued" seems more real
Living a life on the outside is how I feel
Borrowing faith from the lies meant to sweeten the deal
Sense of disaster has smothered me under its heel

FAREWELL
This is my farewell to you
I always thought that you'd be mine, but I'm the one you left behind
And I'm writing this on every postcard I could find

This is where I sat for days, ever since you went away
And there's nothing that I could do
But I wanted you to know that I still cared for you

This is a time change - this is the dotted line
That separates me from spending my time with you
And that's all I wanted to do, but all I have's farewell to you

Even though the night was dark, and even though the chance was slight
I watched you walk away for good
Still hoping you would stay until things turned out all right

This is a hot line - this is a new display
There's nothing more that I can say about you
And now it's time to learn to live without you

THIS CHANGES NOTHING
This place where there is everything is where you've lain your head
It's turned out to be difficult to honor what you'd said
The things you could have gained if you had stood up to the strain
If this is what you've chosen, that cannot be changed

Every day's become the same day - who are you to be so grim?
Losing what you dedicate your life to on a whim
Tired of sleepless nights of pouring out your heart
What can you say when it's already torn apart?

Imagining success - the first idea to second-guess
It ends up seeming so much less
But really makes no difference to me

This place where there is nothing is where you used to be
It's never been so easy to tear down this place with me
Halfheartedly attempt to estimate the cost
Close to impossible to calculate the loss

Pretending that we care, or that we're glad that we were there
The situation's so unfair, but really makes no difference to me

THE BLACK HILLS
That lonely river's winding through the hills so slow
It's walking the same steps it walked ten million years ago

Does anyone know where it started?
They're so obsessed with their loved and departed

This darkened road, it measures these abandoned parts
And all the things it shows to us are hung on the walls
In this hallway through the dark

This is where we disappear
There is no turning back from here

As the sun fades, what has been gained? No one's crossed in so long now
The things we've learned to live without, we learn to live without somehow

This is where we disappear
Our thoughts keep following us down
And the things that we hold dear are all useless to us now

WORDS ARE IMPOSSIBLE
Words are impossible - what can they say?
They're just empty promises one day we'll betray
Words are inadequate - they never do
To save us from those bad times we muddle through

But I've been writing all night to say a certain thing to you
What should I do? If you only knew
That I've been working all day to frame this in some special way
But all I'm trying to say is please don't go away

This is unbearable - I waste my days
In search of some bright sun light to lift the haze
But words are impossible - if they'd appear
I could tell you that there's no sun when you're not here

And I've been writing all night to say a certain thing to you
What should I do? If you only knew
That I've been working all day to frame this in some special way
But all I'm trying to say is please don't go away

AFTER IT HAD TURNED TO DUST
Let's live in your room - the stars are your ceiling
And the way that I'm feeling now I'll depend on you
Let's forget this place, and erase all those bad things
And leave no trace of those maddening days we were so confused

Is there a place on earth where no one is around?
When I found my lifeboat running aground, I called to you
Let's laugh in your yard
It was never hard to imagine us living there even after it had turned to dust

VALLEY OF FIRE
In this valley of fire, what is left to inspire you to go on?
Have you worn away the armor that protected you so long?
With no one forcing your hand, is nothing going as planned?
Have you given up?
Is there a reason nothing anyone could give you really ever seemed enough?

Write to me and tell me of the victories you've won
I never waited for the day that the plans you'd made came undone

On these acres of land, is it hard to withstand your life of regret?
Are you haunted by the failures that you never can forget?

Under these mountains of shame, are you laying the blame on someone else? Is it all because you're tired of being disgusted with yourself?

ALL OF YOUR TOMORROWS WERE DECIDED TODAY
All of your tomorrows were decided today
All you've worked for has begun to decay
Living on your island home, there's a fire on the lawn
You have discovered everything you had is gone

And how foreign was the world that you stepped into,
And how frightening that the odds were against you?
How oppressive was the room you were trapped and studied in?
The antiseptic environment

How did you know what was best for you
After all of the hard times you'd been through?
After every day you flew too close to the sun?
This is another one

None of these things matters anyway
All of your tomorrows were decided today

CHAINS
It's boiling over, and I'm prepared to watch it go
Nothing can stop the overflow
Darkened horizons, and blackening the screen
Another chance to wipe it clean

It's like this every day

Living up to expectations - somewhere that's an easy line
Competitions always cloud the mind
So get me out of this - our lives have always been this game
Just free me from these chains

It's like this every day - nothing that can carry me away

Does no one understand this pain?
I am at the bottom of the bottomless again

It's like this every day - nothing that can carry me away

Does no one understand this pain?
I am at the bottom of the bottomless again
This is a helplessness I can't explain
The bottomless again