Hummingbird
A sorry hat for broken hearts is what I find I wear
Subtleties expecting me to turn
A river falls like blood between my bloodstream and my mind
If hope fell like water, I’d leave this earth behind.
Fighter fight
I’m tired of pouring water
On my mind
Silence drowning you inside
A wounded heart is waking so I’m calling seven seas
The vessel of my body needing you to breathe in me
Tired hands are climbing through the marrow of my bones
If breath became my water, I’d let all this go
Fighter fight
I’m tired of pouring water
On my mind
Silence drowning you inside
Breathe on,
Breathe on,
Breathe on,
I’ll let you breathe on
Fighter fight
I’m tired of pouring water
On my mind
Silence drowning you inside
Let your mind fall the fragile line of loving life yet knowing it too well
And if it hurts to be free,
Find a seagull in the breeze
Flying small, in daylight’s keep
And with that speed and in that size
Tell me now if you decide
A human’s fight, could be double that kind
And if it could, might I choose
To pigeon organs through my shoes,
A hundred doves will fill me through
Tie me to my bones,
My skin is not of stone,
My skin is not of stone
Let your heart know there is a kind
Of rolling hill in leaving things behind
And if it’s hard to believe
Time will conquer disbelief
Promise me, you’ll dare to see
That when fears caress an eye
There’s a choice to feel alive
A human’s fight, could be worn with delight
And since it could, might I choose
To harness gravestones like a shoe
And throw em off, when days are through
Tie me to my bones,
My skin is not of stone,
My skin is not of stone
Though the skin that I am stitched to
Lies a hundred miles of issues
I’m better off to find my feet again
And finding mud is not an issue
Cause I’m a southpaw used to tissues
And i know i’m gonna get back home again
Tie me to my bones,
My skin is not of stone,
My skin is not of stone
Rain on pavement ground,
It hurts, the healing that I’ve found
Storms they comfort me,
Cause sun, it burns what I don’t want to leave
Latched, I latched,
a hummingbird, I move back when I look forward
And I’ll fall like April Snow,
Confess I haven’t learned of letting go
But I want to rise like a hummingbird
I will escape all these echoes heard
I’m ready to conquer, and I’m ready to scream
I’m ready to let rain wash over me
Far and fast is ocean land,
A need to understand
So I’ll bruise the air with flight,
Revive the hue of wonder, it’s alright
But I want to rise like a hummingbird
I will escape all these echoes heard
I’m ready to conquer, and I’m ready to scream
I’m ready to let rain wash over me
I’m ready to conquer, and I’m ready to scream
I’ve been mistaken, for something I’ve seen
So, let it rain, let it fall
I’ll be okay, if i lose it all
I want to rise like a hummingbird
I will escape all these echoes heard
I’m ready to conquer, and I’m ready to scream
I’m ready to let rain wash over me
It took one trip to travel far away
I wish I could keep going many miles and miles that way
But a foot can be deceiving on the pathway it projects
I curse the misbelieving, and the heartache it forgets
You know I’ve tried, I know you’ve tried
You know I’ve tried, I know you’ve tried
A vapor caught, silent in the wind,
Decreeing I am something, greater than your sin.
A backroad can be haunting, when you’ve seen a certain way
But I thank the wounds that healed me, oh a marvelous display
You know I’ve tried, I know you’ve tried
You know I’ve tried, I know you’ve tried
Broken bones don’t win and they never will
Broken bones don’t win and they never will
Broken bones don’t win and they never will
Broken bones don’t win and they never will
You’re the 6 letter word that I’m trying to spell
But my hand keeps on stumbling and my eyes start to well
When i’m thinking of you i am thinking of me,
The burden you carry and the fight to believe
I’ve been exhausting this sickness, this view
We’ve run it down like roses, I’ve run it down with you
But mother i notice a heart that’s abused
A million miles of battles, a million miles of use
I can feel the way you feel
When my heart is heavy and my lungs are keeled
When i’m begging for help, and you feel it too
I know that it burns, and i burn for you too, and i burn for you too
You would tear off your skin just to piece me together,
But your stitches will wear so i’m afraid to be better.
I know that you’ve cried and i’ve hidden tears,
It’s a love that is spoken when the puddles appear
But just for minute could we let all this loose
And build up something present and build up something new?
I’ll hunt for the sticks if you pop the flue,
We can live in the teepee as smoke rises through
I can feel the way you feel
When my heart is heavy and my lungs are keeled
When I’m begging for help, and you feel it too
I know that it burns, and i burn for you too, and i burn for you too
And i burn, and i burn, and i burn
And i burn, and i burn, and i burn
And i burn, and i burn, and i burn
And iiiiiiiiiiiii…
I can feel the way you feel
When my heart is heavy and my lungs are keeled
When I’m begging for help, and you feel it too
I know that it burns, and i burn for you too, and i burn for you too
Midwest moons are mountains far
and miles and miles from the ocean floor
but when winds move west I want to sink in more
yellow and maize outside my door
Midwest stars are cornfield lost,
with a little bit of room and a really big heart
so when winds move east I’ll do anything but leave
where the river meets the sea, I’ll declare to let it be
I want to grow up from
the roots beneath the ground
to sleep upon a home I love
Midwest feet can walk a while,
with a rusty set of tools and a genuine smile
so when winds move anywhere, I know I’m ready here
to take and give a hand, and let em know I’m here
Midwest dreams may not be
city lights and movie screens
but stargaze at a night sky,
you are seen within the lights
I want to grow up from
the roots beneath the ground
to sleep upon a home I love
If birds fell like rain,
And sun melted like snow,
In times like these,
I’d feel less alone
When the strong one cries,
On a bench in July,
Needing time to change like freckles on my bones
Moving, isn’t easy
When warpaint doesn’t settle beneath your skin
Be strong, doesn’t mean much
When memory’s all there is to move on
If i fell like snow,
And learned to let go
In times like these,
I wouldn’t need to know
When the strong one cries,
On a bench in July,
What would happen to the years ahead of time
Moving, isn’t easy
When warpaint doesn’t settle beneath your skin
Be strong, doesn’t mean much
When memory’s all there is to move on
When the strong one cries, I’ll wait for you
When the strong one cries, I’ll sing for you
Cause war paint goes against the seams of lonely hearts and broken dreams
When the strong one cries,
On a bench in July,
I’ll know rain is just a pattern to overcome
Moving, isn’t easy
When war paint doesn’t settle beneath your skin
Be strong, doesn’t mean much
When memory’s all there is to move on
Would you read me like an x-ray, searching for a break
Cause the pattern of my headspace may be causing a mistake
If I dreamt it all, and I left it
Would you tell me that I’m crazy, that you’ve heard it all before
I’m a record playing circles from the well stitched in core
If I dream it, and I leave it all
Where my bones are painted black now
And my teeth don’t stand to show
How my fingers wrapped my jawbone
And i swore i’d never know
How to turn my head in triumph
While still searching for my rest
How to focus on the heartbreak
While reviving my own chest
Would you tell me I am absent, omnipresent to myself
Like a ghost who’s chasing history, trying to be somebody else
If I breathe it out, will you breathe me in?
If I breathe it out, will you breathe me in?
Where my bones are painted black now
And my teeth don’t stand to show
How my fingers wrapped my jawbones
And i swore i’d never know
How to turn my head in triumph
While still searching for my rest
How to focus on the heartbreak
While reviving my own chest
What I hope to find, I’m finding here
There’s a flesh still trying, trying here
Yeah my skin’s still shaking, shaking here
I will be, i will be
I will be, i will be
Where my bones are painted black now
And my teeth don’t stand to show
How my fingers wrapped my jawbones
And i swore i’d never know
How to turn my head in triumph
While still searching for my rest
How to focus on the heartbreak
While reviving my own chest
Would you read me like an x-ray, with bones arranged by piece
And forgive the fractured headache, cause its walls are incomplete
Raw is left pink,
Talked of as blue,
But run from like secrets,
Colored like dew
The soft heart you’ve hidden,
Has grown like screams,
Liquid rehearsing,
Under concrete.
Could we celebrate?
Maybe it’s worth it,
Moving like seas
Aching to wonder,
How can it be?
The grass of our history
Is mighty indeed,
But fails to surpass
What maybe could be.
Could we celebrate?
I’d find an image,
Where the color shapes the night,
And hang it like philosophy,
Framing words from all the times,
When going got tough,
And hope was hard to find
You know this,
And I know this
You know this,
And I know this
So take notice
We’ve lost and we’ve learned,
We’ve gained and we’ve forfeited,
We’ve sunk and we’ve swam
And i’ve seen stars hanging in this land
And i’ve seen you, and i’ve seen me
And i’ve seen sorrow reach its peak
And i’ve climbed high and i’ve hit low
And i’m here to let you know
That i feel breath within my skin and it loathes the sickness that has been
In my brain and in my blood and i’m speaking of this hope
That intersects my soul because my skin breathes clear with pores that reek of something more
And i pray it’s not a waste to bend my words like worn knees
And speak of something sacred, surrounded by disease
I believe in the three, and i believe i am one
I believe that these songs have already won
they’ve taken my veins and my bones and my body
And challenged their shape, to conform to nobody
To the lonely, the beaten, the bruised and the bleeding
Let’s color the buildings and breathe a new meaning
I’m the homeward bound and shaken down,
I’m the glory that remains unfound
I’m the fighting when trying surrenders its fate,
I’m the want to feel love and the hurt to escape
I’m the nomad who holds onto memories too tight,
which is why I’m not sure that I’m doing this right,
but I’m tired of flatlines and changes in plans
so I’m thanking you deeply,
no fist in my hand
we’ll go on living
and trying to grow
I’ll keep on singing,
so you’ll always know
that you’re more than this means
like the air to a leaf
and you’ve changed my delight,
infinitely
I’m the nomad feet and hold-me-down
I’m the traveler who’s never found
I’m the one who is tired of saying goodbye,
but I know that somehow it is worth it to cry
we’ll go on living
and trying to grow
I’ll keep on singing,
so you’ll always know
that you’re more than this means
like the air to a leaf
and you’ve changed my delight,
infinitely
there’s a space in the needle
and I was scared to believe
that the walls of a building could fall into me
and it washed through my blood and it poured through my veins
and my skin is reminded of Seattle rain.
so I’ll keep on sinking
and finding the floor
I’ll keep on praying
to learn something more
cause you’re more than this means
like the air to a leaf
and you’ve changed my delight,
infinitely
Singles
Is there somewhere we could go
To find a place, to find a home?
I’ve been searching for hope within
A suitcase and a bag of notes
Thinkin’, man we’ve gotta get back up again.
Would the curtains of a house
Be enough to shield the darkness out?
Now my path is wide and rocks and streams don’t step aside
Could i feel secure by locking me inside?
Could my home be hallelujah?
Would the shingles of a roof
Keep me dry when i am overcome?
Cause when rain washes over me
I’ll need a place to dry my feet;
Could i know i’m safe and warm
With tethered wings?
Could my home be hallelujah?
I’m tryin’ move on with warpaint in my lungs
I’m tryin’ move on and find a place that I love
But finding home is harder when you’re scared of everything
I’m finding needles in my pocket — scar tissue in my veins
Could my home be hallelujah?