Thick Skin

This town never seemed so small Sitting here staring at these walls City limits never seemed so far No other place has ever left a scar This big, never hit this hard And maybe it was you maybe it was me Maybe it was everything The Friday night lights The winter snow So white and so cold Your hand reaches for mine And it sends shivers down my spine And I’m biting my tongue Trying not to tell you you’re the one I would give up this live for I’d die just to hold you a second more, more, more   It was that old house that I called home And soon I knew the day would come To walk away, to move on from what I’ve always known And dive headfirst into the great unknown And I’d have to leave this place behind me In the rearview mirror wrapped up in pine trees And long nights and secrets we’ll keep Knee-deep in the memories Your hand reaches for mine And it send shivers down my spine And I’m biting my tongue T...

Her sadness rests on the knuckles beneath her chin Her defeated eyes hanging heavy, her patience wearing thin The darkness had knocked on her door with force And instead of getting up to answer, she resides in her remorse She sits at the table staring blankly into the night Where stars and galaxies far away reflect what little light Surrounds her She wonders what it would be like to walk amongst those stars To romp about and feel as though she wasn’t stuck behind the iron bars Of the prison she has designed Inside her own mind Making herself the victim of her own petty crimes Making herself believe she didn’t have the strength to carry on And so she let herself believe all of the problems she faced were her burdens and hers alone That she lived and died by her own hand That she instilled the weakness in her knees that withdrew her strength to stand She believed that she had failed, and so she had She believed that she was the reason her eyes looke...

You have always been like a seed You planted yourself in my head in my time of need Made me feel wanted and loved and all of the things That I had hoped you would feel about me And you grew, spreading throughout my veins Rooting yourself deep into my skin, leaving stains On my heart, my mind, and my soul And ever since, I’ve been trying to get something back that you stole My heart beats on, but outside my chest In the palm of your hand, clutched in your fist, you never let it rest And after all these years maybe there is no getting it back I see you standing there under the lights, and it all rushes back The shortness of breath, sweaty palms, and racing heart Just hanging on your every word, waiting for you to tear me apart To tell me one thing, and do another, your actions never aligning with your words And I would be lying if I said it didn’t hurt Maybe I should have known better than to listen to what you told me But there wil...

The summer breeze rings in my ears like the explosion of a distant gunshot It sings to me the song of love lost and kisses caught That had been trusted to float amongst the wind to the lips of another To not be lead astray or be destroyed in the unpredictability of the weather When a summer’s day turns to night and the clouds slowly roll in To cast a shadow over those who turn upward their chins To let the light shine upon their face To give them shelter, to give them a safe place To hide in plain sight From those who have stolen the light Those who have used their hands to touch gently But used their words to burn idly Blissfully unaware of their presence Or even more unaware of how their absence Steals away the smile and effervescent laughter Of how the innocent were before, and now after The rain has poured and the lightning has struck There is only one feeling left, the feeling of being stuck Stuck in love with no one to lea...

What we had was like a handful of glitter Beautiful, but chaotic and messy, so full of anger Toss it up in the air watch it fall apart Blow it away as far away from your heart As you can, because the most beautiful things will destroy you Roses will prick you wit their thorns, and women will pretend to know you To love you, to understand your sacrifice, but all they want is your attention And they’ll do and say anything to keep your affection But she is glitter. Deceivingly beautiful, but will cover up the glue underneath holding her together And all you see is a perfect disguise of everything she never wanted you to see; it’s clever The way she hides behind her ruse Never stopping to think that her flaws could be beautiful too The person beneath the skin; the glue That nobody else will dare dig deep enough to see The crying, the traits that nobody asks for, but you dare to try To see them for who they are, and you hold them when they...

Back then it was so easy loving you I had nothing in this world better to do Than to hold you, to kiss you But time has ran away with us, and the you I knew Is different and so am I It seems that all we have are memories to get us by You want me to wrap my mind around the past To hold onto how I felt about you after all these years have passed But I can’t pretend that everything is the same I can’t pretend that after we have changed That we can have all of that back All of the love that you said you never had When I begged for answers and you left me with questions Turned your back because you were scared leaving me with the assumptions That you never meant anything that you said Let me hate you for so long for something you never did And I can’t chase you now, I can’t offer to be there My responsibility lies with someone new, and to betray her Would be the worst thing I could take away from all of this After everything we’ve ...

You were my best friend when nobody else would stand beside me You gave me confidence when everyone else degraded me I got picked on and made fun of but you always had my back Always making a joke out of it to make me laugh Telling me to own it, to always be myself No matter what people called me, no matter what everyone else Thought about me, you knew what was underneath The tough defensive exterior that I showed the world, you knew beneath All of that anger was somebody worth talking to And just one voice telling me it would be okay was enough so I have to thank you And all of these are just words that I never said And you never know when it’s too late, when one of your friends must rest his head Forever. It’s the longest measurement of time It’s how long we said we would always be friends, forever is a long time And even though you’re gone I’ll never forget what you’d given me When nobody else would waste their time on me When everyone made fun o...