Break This Pace

I wanna line it up today
Gotta bring myself to say
that there’s so much here worth fighting for
Can’t let this clutter block my door
The lilies just stopped blooming
The weather sifts right through me
I’ve gotta break this pace
before I lose what I’ve been proving

And I complain about how I’m tired
My eyes are always wired to red trucks
screamin’ down the highway to put out the next fire
I’ve got a timecard and a tip jar,
six alarm clocks cursin’ in unison
I gotta break this pace
before I lose what I’ve been proving

Now I’m staring straight up at the sky and fame
No god to beg or blame
I’m desirous of a life that has no age
I take the trash out in the evenings
Shimmy the tightrope ‘tween drunk and dreaming
I gotta break this pace
before I lose how I been breathing

There’s a lot of lies to live inside
There are twists and bills and broken ties
I’m lucky when I can write to my own mind
I got a penpal in Virginia
shuckin’ corn and tendin’ tomatoes
I can tell this life’s hard for her
even in the sweet and salt of the summer
She says, Lady, you gotta get away
Lady, you gotta stay.
We gotta hash it all out
before we lose what we’ve been saying.

If there’s one thing universal about these ups and downs,
so personal I think it’s that we crave boredom
the moment we’re forced to fight
Maybe it’s Eastern, maybe commonplace
Not resignation but a give and take
The brilliance of a smile before it breaks.