dead men tell no tales reason enough to stay alive i was learning how to play guitar while you were learning how to drive they say the drowning man is not troubled by the rain so put yr hands around my neck, baby i don't need to breathe it's not up to me i wanna burn the sick off grow a whole new skin darling i apologize for the state yr in i wanna sit in silence till my body turns blue and i'm gonna hate myself baby cuz yr not going to it's not up to me i'm ghosting now i don't know what to do so please forget yr rules and let me go with you i am a man passing through it's not up to me

to ana who spoke to me when i was in trouble to mary who followed me when i needed a double to violet who asked me why the choices i made made her cry to may who watches me meeting me yearly now i check the time whenever i get the chance no, i don't wanna die i'm afraid that i've missed my chance

the world ends slowly by a bench in the park my hate, it passes quickly when i look to the dark i hear the running water and i see yr ghost looking for the answers in the songs that you wrote i've seen lights while looking up at the sky i've heard the death rattle of naïve times i've seen the devil kill a girl with his eyes his voice, like a pendulum handsome and sly * * * one night stands and giant hands gray lace and soliloquies

there was this one winter two years ago where it snowed so much that it formed 3 foot mountains up and down the inclined streets of our town, and the sidewalks became icy rivers in between wide snowbanks blocking the doors of local businesses and stretching out into the street. it was impossible to walk anywhere, so we did. in skate shoes we trekked through the neighborhood, cold and exhausted, but set on the goal of returning to my friend’s house across town, deep within the confines of the community for the wealthy; a section cut off from the rest of us by dense forest. the city upon a hill that this subsection was, the hike was long and arduous without the obstacle of the ever-growing crags of snow. i remember walking up the hill with our party of four, my two friends and my girlfriend at the time. we would, every so often, abandon the water-logged sidewalks for the presumably solid and safe looking snow banks, only to find, minutes later, ourselves trapped by frosty hands pulling us down from below. sleet fell onto our hat-less heads as we fought upward, screaming at each other words of attempted encouragement, eventually kicking our way out and falling back to the burning salt marsh of the sidewalk. we vowed never to be tempted with the soft white ice to our lefts or rights again. however, when the chemical burn of sodium chloride set into our snow-soaked canvas, the wide white traps seemed like a godsend, and our cycle repeated up the hill. eventually, the trap-banks separated our party in two, my girlfriend and best friend finding their way up the hill-turned-mountain together. my other friend and I were significantly further behind, and I watched, eyes obscured by sleet, two figures speak and laugh and bump each other, the way that lovers do. i spoke to my climbing partner about it, and he said there was nothing to worry about. they reached the top of the mountain and disappeared from sight. when we finally got to my friend’s house, having made the journey through the labyrinthine roads of his community of wealthy isolation, i took off my jacket and my salt-soaked shoes, and hearing the other three laughing in triumph, laid on the bathroom floor to thaw.

yr angels are all burning in the sky i swear to god that i'll outlast them all the sun stays up all the time it seems these days yr boyfriend called he says he wants to save you the sun stays up all the time these days all my friends don't care yeah all my friends they're all the same you ain't foolin' nobody and you ain't foolin' me

you walk with yr man through the halls of the school you talk about love as you go room to room i can't really see cuz of the lights in my eyes but i'm fairly certain that my brother just died dehydrated and lost i will wait you out whatever the cost and i'll always be around wasting my hours thinking of hours with you but i'll remember them poorly and if i could drive you home you could lay yr head in my lap and i could take us out into the night i can feel the memories swell though they act like dreams in my mind i don't think i was actually there but i don't mind yr vengeance comes down with every letter in yr name and the anger that's saved is what those letters dictate i saw it from the half light, it still makes me shake and i can't sleep at night, no i can't sleep at night see me, don't see sanctify me violence, coming up/down again i know we die i know i'll die and i can't sleep at night no i can't sleep at night and if i could drive you home you could lay yr head in my lap and i could take us out into the night i can feel the memories swell though they act like dreams in my mind i don't think i was actually there but i don't mind *** maybe maybe maybe if i put water in the vase the flowers will come back to life maybe maybe maybe if i put water in the vase i can turn back time i can make things right and if i could drive you home you could lay yr head in my lap and i could take us out into the night i can feel the memories swell though they act like dreams in my mind i don't think i was actually there but i don't mind

lock yrself inside yr room wait for the thought to pass talk to yr sister about it i'm sure she'd understand i breathed in + smelled yr smoke yr burning alive for him everything he says and does will drive it deeper in you i know you wanna make it right, you gotta try to fight more than yrself at night when yr sleeping i know you wanna make it right, you gotta try to fight more than yrself at night when yr tempted lock yrself inside yr room yr heart pressed up against glass the violence of yr tragic tones make cracks along yr past i breathed in + smelled yr smoke yr burning alive for him everything you ever do might just come down to this i know you wanna make it right, you gotta try to fight more than yrself at night when yr sleeping i know you wanna make it right, you gotta try to fight more than yrself at night when yr tempted you gotta drive into the open night first i thought that you were strange, then i began to like you then i came to realize that i was nothing like you drive into the open night you gave me a key after i killed my girlfriend though i sought higher ground i could not see the incoming end drive into the open night

when i go to school, i will see many, but none will be you that's fine your alien race is everywhere on earth if you know where to look libraries, park benches, moving in cars kissing your boyfriend alone in the dark when i go downtown, i will see many, but none will be you that's fine your alien race has nowhere to hide flying in airplanes, counting the stars you're sitting backstage, now you're counting his scars sleeping in airplanes, crying in cars you're sitting backstage, now i'm counting my scars 1 2 3 4 5 6 among us humans, you ain't that hard to find

come with me come into my bed we can sleep like unborn children under the covers we can watch the light creep in through the window and we will never touch each other because i love you too much for that the way that you think is normal for someone your age despite what you've been through i shake uncontrollably when you speak when you speak speak about anything at all so i'm going and i'll never come back but you'll go before me so my absence will be meaningless will be meaningless anyway is there a bottom to this? i'd like to hit the bottom before i come back up for air could you hold me down and tell me about your options and your lovers and the thing that you want most? i'll listen till i die inside and i'll sleep alone that night or i won't sleep at all