Red

Burned then buried
Hurried endlessly through eternities
I thought I had to

Mirrors in everyone's eyes
Looking for ways I kept falling behind
Why haven't I been pinned up on the bulletin with all the rest of the specimen?
Am I not delicate enough?

I was caught between one and the other, and there was no way out
Up on the hillside, or lying underground
But I'll roll the stone a little more

Crackling porcelain
Every wound is open, but no evidence
What was taken?

Fear was what got me to try
But stone nor steel could keep it inside
No display of raging war would stay onstage, years of struggling under streetlights
Bled me dry

I was caught between one and the other, and there was no way out
Up on the hillside, or lying underground
But I'll roll the stone a little more

I don't know how I fell, but all along I already knew
Beauty cannot be bloodless, it just didn't look true

'Cause I was taught that I wanted to be dying all the time
But all I learned was that all my worth was not in my blood or life

But in the birth of winter before the morning light
I kissed the earth and thanked her for bearing me til I came back
I picked myself off the floor
Rolled the stone from the door
And by the time the sun was high the light lapped all around the path I walked

And it never was so red