Francis: Hey,when is supper around here?
Ethan: you already ate.
Francis: what about seconds and snacks and desserts?
Ethan: Francis, I don’t know how to tell you, but you’re fat.
Francis: Lies! But, I am hungry.
Ethan: you’re on a diet
Francis: abuse! 
Francis: This is my winter coat. . . It’s to protect me from predators.
Ethan: does it protect you from diabetes?
The lights in this town
Keep fading, flickering
Out
All my dreams
Are buckets of rain
And the neighbours
Keep
Kicking and screaming
Forget about the mind numbing
Games that we play
Just to convince ourselves to stay
The sidewalks made of clay
But our hearts are made of Stone
Forget about it
Are we ever changing
Oh are we really changing
Or are we just wore out?
All these new kids in town
Fresh faced
Walking in like they’re Old Gangster
I’m about ready to
She’s about ready to wear it out
The coffee makes you anxious
And the paper mill shut down
And we all know
That we are raging
Our eyes are aging
Here is the change
All of these days
All of these days
All of these days
If I gave them back to you
What would you
Who would you give them to …
1
When we’re the broken
standing next to the lonely
Are we any better
Than what we came here
To forget ?
—-
I’m just out here
Looking for a shelter
She reminds me
Shelter is also a human touch
2
Are we getting better ?
Has anything really changed?
Children of poor fathers and broken mothers
Repeating the same routines –
She said she loved a girl –
What is Love anyhow-
She said
Don’t tell me you’ll stay forever
Just tell me when you’re ready to leave
—
Have we come here to make these things better, how can we come together…
3
Walk with me
Just a mile
4
Is my flesh so weak
Am I really so broken down
Can I – I would that I could
The storm keeps on blowing
The waters keep on rising
It’s not the swimming
It’s not the drowning
It’s only the breathing
5
She pulls me back together
She settles me down
Red hair
Her lips
Her kiss
And she settles all my broken bones
And
I don’t have to walk these roads
6
Are we getting better?
Or are we just the same …
You know, I can’t remember what I came here to forget…
For just one moment
Turn off the noise
The ads
The articles
The videos
The echo in the canyons of your mind
———
Look at what you grew through
Where we – what we- came from
Look into your own eyes
Here today
————-
Post, 9/11
Post, Katrina
Post, the financial crisis
Post, the war on terror
Post, social media
iTunes
Streaming
What is anyone reading….
————
Look at what you came through
Now, don’t let anyone
Or anything
Not even yourself…
Tell you otherwise….
———
You were built to last
You are a survivor
You matter
And even though the world will never be the same
Those of us who remember
A world before,
We lived through it,
We lived through it,
Cannot be fooled
And we will not abide
Shallow waters
We demand the depths
To wash us clean
And we will rise above it
Into the sunrise
And we will continue to seek out
A better future for ourselves
Because we have lived
A thousand lives
And dreamed a thousand dreams…
And we are still living- still dreaming- still fighting
Yes, even ourselves
But we were built to last…
——–
Through these fires…
We demand the depths…
And I don’t know that our eyes
Look at the world the same
As those who were born, after,
Or even before,
I think everyone carries their own burdens
But this is an old flame
And it changes you…
It can’t help but change you…
It hollows you out
And replaces your thoughts
With echoes of loss
It hollows you out
Bone and marrow
And builds a fire inside you
That only the moon
The ocean
And the stars can understand
I hope you understand
You were built to last
What else is there?
She grew up
Talk of this town
I fell in love
Fell in fast
Before her boots
Hit the ground
And she just said
Nothing’s built to last
She took my love
To the edge of town
Gunning for the city limits
—-
Before the setting sun makes its rounds
My radio
Keeps selling me
The same old broke down songs
For a remedy
My pickup truck
It’s gut broke
Can’t get me outta this town
—-
She took my love
She took me down
Wildfire
She can kill an hour
Kill a year
She’s
Everything
You’d want
And she knows your need
Wildfire
Shell shake the dust of this town
She can’t be contained
But she’ll set you free…
I hope you found the love
To settle your nerves
Shake the dust
Of this old earth
Of this worn town
He loved a boy
With a smile
From the lost and found
But lately we’ve not seen him around
And I wonder
If we would ever grow past
what we know
And woman
Oh woman
I hope
You know
I love you body
And soul
And all the fires
That fill this winter
Oh woman
Oh woman
I would that I could talk with you tonight
Shake the dust of this earth
From these bones
And make it alright
