simulacraton

Smile for the camera Hold it Hold it There Say the right words Soft voice Soft hands Soft lie This is real This is real This is real Isn't it This is love This is love This is love Isn't it Wear the dress Play the part Learn the lines Break the heart Morning mirror Stranger there Same face Empty stare Started so small A little lie To make it easier Now can't remember What was true Before Touch means nothing Kiss means less Performance, perfect Tenderness Audience of one Applause Standing ovation For the cause Built a house Out of glass Lived inside Couldn't last Everyone sees in No one sees The actress dying By degrees This is real This is real This is real Isn't it This is me This is me This is me Isn't it Isn't it Isn't it ...isn't it Duplicity Du...pli...ci...ty

Turn the key Watch me go Little dance Pretty show Spin for you Spin on cue Do it again Again, again Wind me up Wind me up Watch me move Can't stop Wind me up Wind me up Entertain 'Til I drop Painted smile Painted eyes Jerky arms No surprise Gears inside Gears inside Nothing left Left to hide Slower now Winding down Turn the key Turn it Turn it Go again Child gets bored Put me down Shelf life Dust now Wait in dark For the hand Turn the key Dance again What's inside Springs and wire No heart Just desire To be held To be wound To be played To be found Wind me up Wind me up Watch me move Can't stop Wind me up Wind me up Love me 'Til I drop Love me 'Til I drop 'Til I drop

She speak my name Like poison now Tell the world What I never done Words like knives Thrown at shadows Cutting deep Into everyone Lies you told Lies you told I was good to you Now my name is cold Lies you told Lies you told Truth don't matter When the story's sold I held you close Through the darkness Gave you shelter Gave you time Now you paint me Like a monster For the crime Of loving blind They believe her They don't ask My face Becomes a mask I wear the shame Of things I never did Walk the street Eyes look away Guilty man Nothing to say Can't defend Against a whisper Truth gets lost In the grey One day sun Will burn the fog And they will see What you have done 'Til that morning I walk alone Innocent man Turned to stone Lies you told Lies you told Lies... Lies...

Whisper comes Through the window Soft like light On the pillow Voice I know From before Can't see you Feel you more Still here Still here Closer now Than you were Still here Still here Angel voice In my ear You left quiet Winter morning No goodbye No warning But you visit In the stillness In the space Between heartbeats I forgive you For leaving I understand The weight You carry nothing now You carry nothing Sometimes feel Your hand guiding When the dark Comes riding You protect me From the other side Gentle presence Gentle guide One day I'll Meet you there 'Til then You're everywhere In the music In the rain In the quiet Past the pain Still here Still here Still... Here...

Face in the photo All fading now Colors bled out Don't remember how Held it to the light Every day Still it slips Slips away Negative in a box Can't hold your past In your hands Roll of film Undeveloped Image fades It was destined Who is that young man Standing over there Full of time Full of air Empty eyes looking back Fading frame But the light Not the same Used to remember Every detail I smell the room Now just shapes Now just colors Now just... Shoebox in a closet Hiding ghosts People loved People lost Faces in a fog Names go soft This is what it costs What it costs Photo in a drawer Forgotten now Still a stranger Yellow and brown No one left Holding the frame No one left Who knows the name Everything burns Light leaks in Fading out Fading...

Shadow at the window Was it there Footsteps in the hallway No one there Phone buzzes Unknown number Who gave them My name Watching Always watching Eyes I can't see Hands I can't feel Watching Always watching Can't tell anymore What's real Lock the door Check it twice Check it again Not enough Car parked outside Engine running Same car Three days now They know where I work They know where I sleep They know what I said Back in 2003 Nothing disappears Nothing gets deleted Everything's a file Somewhere Smile at the neighbor Does he know What they're saying Where they go Trust no one Trust nothing Even the mirror Looks wrong Maybe I'm crazy Maybe I'm right Can't tell the difference Late at night But if I'm wrong Why the feeling Something coming Through the ceiling Watching Always watching Eyes everywhere Hands in the data Watching Always watching Paranoia Or just awake Watching... Watch... Wat...

Stone on stone Grey morning Mountain there Before naming Pressed flat Pressing slow Nowhere else To go Concrete Concrete No blame Just weight Concrete Concrete No malice Just fate Ocean floor Doesn't wonder Gravity Pulling under Bones returning To the powder Silent things Growing louder Want is for the living Pressing down That's all Stars going dark Not goodbye Just math Just sky Time moving through Not taking Just passing Just waking Head on surface Holding there Not comfort Not care Just solid Just old Just here Just cold Concrete Concrete Before After Heavy... Just is...

My eyes open Ceiling there Let my lungs fill Morning air Light through glass Dust floating My heart still beating Still going Dawn again Dawn again Nothing promised But here I am Dawn again Dawn again Another day For who I am My feet find ground Wood is cold Coffee brewing Something good I hear the birds Who know my name Say it wrong Anyway Fifty-eight times around the sun Some mornings That's enough Just this Just light Just breath Passing storm Through the night Window still Facing day Waking cold Face the day Kneel alone As if to pray Let me stretch these bones Feel the ache Proof of living Give and take Sun doesn't care Rises anyway Let me see it One more day Dawn again Dawn again Still here Still here Let me breathe... Let me breathe...

I heard you Listening Speaking to no-one Fury rising Feels so right Clenched fist Ready to fight Blood hot Vision red Same thoughts Circling head Loops of fury Round and round Digging deeper Underground Loops of fury Can't get out Swallowing What I'm about You said No, you said Don't tell me what I heard I was there I was right there Someone pays Someone bleeds Feed the fire What it needs Justified Every time Righteous anger Righteous crime You think I don't remember? Every word Every look I remember all of it All of it All of it Why won't you answer Say something Say something back... Hello? Mirror cracked Who's that there Same face Same glare Became the thing I hated most Haunted by My own ghost Nobody here Just me Talking to... Karma coming Slow and sure Poison drunk No cure What you give Comes back around Loops of fury Run aground Loops of fury Burning down Everything I built On the ground Loops of fury Now I see Only one destroyed Is me I was listening I swear I was listening ...nobody there Round and round... Round and round... Round... Loops of Fury Loops of Fury Loops of Fury

Never born Not really Walked through rooms Nobody saw Face painted For no audience Smile fixed On a broken jaw Ghost clown Ghost clown Never lived Never mattered now Ghost clown Ghost clown Take a bow No one's watching anyhow Performed tricks Empty tent Juggled days Where'd they went Balloon animals For no child Honked a horn No one smiled Remember me? No Of course not I was the one In the background Of the photo You threw away Died quiet Tuesday afternoon No headline No obituary tune Became what Always was Nothing haunting Nothing because Now the paint Runs like tears Ghost of a ghost All these years Still performing Still unseen Saddest act That's ever been Ghost clown Ghost clown Take a bow... Take a bow...

Lights flicker Nobody home Smile like plastic Heart on a loan Conversations Made of air Hands keep reaching Nothing there We find joy Wasteland Find joy Stand Find joy Nothing promised Dance Be astonished They dissolve Like morning fog Names carved In a rotting log So what so what Let them fade Joy's not something Others made You want meaning? Make it up You want purpose? Fill the cup Yourself No one's coming No one ever was That's the secret That's the buzz Sun still rises On the ash Beauty growing Through a crash Laugh at nothing Laugh at all Stand up here While you fall Feet on pavement Lungs on fire Dancing close To a wire No applause No encore Dance because Because because Find joy In a wasteland Find joy Take a stand Find joy Nothing owed Dance like fire Down the road Wasteland... Wasteland... Joy... Joy...