Pete Simon

If I could change myself

who would you have me be?

I could be anyone

anyone you want.

All you have to do to shine
is look my way and I’ll see you
the only star at night

you whispered your name to me
and suddenly I am free
Oh, I’ve you know I’ve been empty waiting
for your hand in mine

All you have to do to change me
is just stay the way you are
and I’ll live beneath your light

you whispered your name to me
and suddenly I am free
Oh, you know I’ve been empty waiting
for your hand in mine

home, I dreamed of you for seven days when life became a blur to choose between awake and sleeping I am still unsure

home, when I return will you still stand or will years tear you down I cannot recall now you’re shapeless in my mind like shadows I have banished you by turning on strange light

home, it wasn’t hard to leave you but it pains me to be gone I thought I knew what I would do I guess that I was wrong

from the bottom of the sea beneath the reach of naked eyes her shattered hull a hollow soul crying from the murky floor bubble up like airy tears you lost control you lost control

rising up at last you wander from the shore at your back the violent sun cutting wounds in the horizon her bleeding edge is glazed by ageless gilded waves that turn eternally that move in disarray you lost control of me you lost control of me

wake you lie in strange sand you washed up  on the shore of the unknown strange you soak it in you are a stranger on an island in the ocean of unwanted where no one’s gonna find you no one’s gonna find you

where did things go wrong you sailed so strong against the storm but the wind must have been stronger aches and pains no broken bones you should be glad you lived instead you feel alone in this stranger’s world

who will hold your head should it roll too far from your shoulder who will hold you during the storm that breaks into your bedroom where’d you go? some hole in the wall? come out cause all is safe now come out from under your cloud

should you care to know my hand can hold onto yours while we dodge the hardest rainfall I know, I know It hurts to be cold an old and lonely waiting heart when every soul tucks in at night to be the one standing outside saving your breath before you sigh come carry on with me

do I? do I? I do do do and on and one we go

do I? do I? I do do do and on and one we go

we’ll walk so tall beneath the stars the heavy world turns in our arms we’ll laugh like the ripples on a pond when all’s forgotten come on, come on I’m waiting for you I’m alone and you’re in hiding I’m the one you can confide in I’ll keep you secret

I suspend time to dial up and old line hearing ring tone static calling in a message to young me catch him in the middle of a day dream imagining my own way in my own life underneath a shade tree dashed with scattered light from the canopy birds sing out melodies are they all mine? why can’t they be swinging from a grape vine high then fall in dirt not hurt no care no certainty only red sky and orange sun above pink clouds hovering the best time of day for the whim and hope of a child as he bounds up and climbs believing that the whole world must have been designed for him fuck em I feel fine he says this is my life he says these are my mistakes to make make em talk make em watch me he says then he takes off his watch this is my time he says and he winds back his arm sends it skipping like a stone into a pool where he sees a reflection of his future now he’s looking at me so I smile back and say:

just keep doing me and do less of them lose the halo wear the rays of the sun stand with your face to the wind pull the band-aid off your arm let the blood run take down the cross and put up your own sign you’ll feel the thrill of the real world tremble down your spine you hold your own heart beating to your own time

So in the meantime will you save the best rhyme put it in your best line save in the back of your brain keep it there for a while so i can find now say it back to myself this is yours this is ours this is mine

Meet me in paper city After the day begins to die And be my way outside this place Miles and miles from a broken mind

It’s prolly true that I don’t know which road Will take me to the one that I can love But let me get away from here

Burning in paper city See how the birds have learned to fly? And I’ll be in the fold of this torn-up world Until the day I die

I know im just a simple minded fool But you should know there’s nothing I won’t do To try to get away from here