Beautiful Things

Bullets are flying and monsters are real
The darkness is here and it's nipping our heels
Shit's getting crazy, nah, shit's gone insane
Hope is on fire and our heroes are tame
One stumble away from an early grave
They tell us we're free but we fear like slaves
Everywhere that you look the sky's going gray
This wonderful world don't seem so pretty these days

But I see beautiful things when I close my eyes
I see the woman I love with her hand in mine
I see the leaves on the ground, the blue in the sky
I see my dad and my brother playing poker with Christ
I can sing like Janis, I can strum like Cash
I got Elvis hips and Liberace class
I fight like a sinner but forgive like a saint
I see beautiful things when I go blind and paint

On Their Lapels

On their lapels
There's a pretty little pin
They say it speaks of freedom
And justice for all men
Give me your tired
Your poor, huddled masses
This is God's land
But not for you bastards
Do you see this Bible here
Do you see that spacious sky
We fill the clouds with bullets
But we'll pray that you survive
Learn to take shelter
And learn to run fast
There's blood on the Baptist floor
But baby, that's how we make our cash
Our skin is so porcelian
Our pockets so lined
If you don't have the money
We don't have the time
You moan that you're hungry
You whisper that you're sick
Dust yourself off and crawl
To the gutter beneath the bridge
Cause on this lapel
There's this pretty little flag
But we don't honor freedom
Anymore than the chain honors the slave

Go Easy

You don't have to do this
You don't have to burn out
You don't have to be the light
The night reminisces about
Got all your arrows aimed
To stake an early grave
But don't leave in a fury
Why don't you go easy

I know about those days
There's no words to pray
But you scream so loud inside
Like echoes in abandoned caves
Your stomach twists
And you scratch your wrists
But you don't have to rage now
Why don't you hang around

You don't have to be a memory just yet
Don't have to be a voice they all forget
A photo, a story and moon lit tears
Don't have to be an anchor on future years
Put down the gun, put down the blade
It isn't time just yet to be a yesterday
Now don't leave in a hurry
Why don't you go easy

My Favorite Day

On my favorite day I wake up
With my arm around her waist
On my favorite day I go to leave
And she asks me to stay
She calls me Baby
I call her Darlin'
We sway to the Dixie Chicks
And sing Bad Moon Rising
On my favorite day it's Autumn
In a lighthouse off the shore

On my favorite day I'm naked
With no walls surrounding me
When I tell her I'm not perfect
She says I don't need to be
I call her Darlin'
She calls me Baby
We lie in bed for hours
And sing karaoke
On my favorite day she's the last wish
I'll ever have to make

She kisses me on the street
Outside Lee's Luxury Lounge
On my favorite day she pulls me close
And I explode without a sound