Esse Quam Videri

I have a gift shop inside me honey
A shadowbox on the shelf
You walk in whispers lately baby
And I can't hear nothing else
I used to know you better
Than you even know yourself

Turn on the headlights, shine it on me
We are sparks in the dust
Peel back my skin now, what's it hiding?
There's not really room left for much
Is it just folklore that you're finding?
Are we strangers from behind?

It's tattooed on my forearms, so it's not forgotten
And I'll remember where I'm from or where I'm going

You stood there looking at the ocean
It was a city of moving lips
Now you're waist-high in the water
Digging all your toes in
My eyes are pilgrims in the dark

Enough of this cold damp city living
You couldn't heat it enough
Drown in the pictures, hold me fold me
I'm looking at you up above

I could have stayed in the reef
But got caught on a beach of nerves
Now I'm moving undercover, blocking out the sounds
Trying to find some privacy living underwater

Is there anything I'm forgetting
Locked up in the braided dirt?
And the hope is in the sculptures, buried underwater
In the blue with faint outlines
Just send me down a piano
Carve my name in the tides
And you'll find me in the sculptures lost out in waters
Just about a mile outside North Carolina