i only wanted such a little thing 

only simplicity 

and now that i am who i was taught to be 

you have abandoned me 

i held so tightly to every word you said 

that's the price of the respect you've always demanded 

and all those things i've gathered through the years 

have no value here 


(chorus) 

i need to find a place where i can breathe 

somewhere high above this empty landscape 

where the air is clear 

and i need to find it while i still can 


in a world like this 

how can you wonder at my sadness? 

now i hope for something beautiful 

but i feel trapped under your waves of wreckage 

and if i cannot claw my own way through 

i fear one day i will be just like you 


in this land of vacant stars 

in the backseats of desperate cars 

in single-mother topless bars 

we ache for something more 

your sons and your daughters 

are unwilling martyrs 

to the devils, priests, and other thieves 

and their wars and rumors of war 

i need a handgun and a hand grenade 

to protect me from those who keep me safe 

still i remember you straight face: 

“Some day this will all be yours.”