Song Lyrics

These lyrics were written for and performed by the band Dragline, a pop punk/alternative band I played in for a while, circa 2013-14, based out of Pensacola, Florida. For the time being, you can still listen to that music here.

“A Calculus of Residues”

We’ve been waiting for a messenger,
And I’ve been waiting for your hand.
We know better than to say never,
But count the stars and count the sand.

We’ve been praying for a messiah,
And I’ve been hoping for a sign.
We say prayers to your betrayer,
And count the silver one more time!

The cross, it seems – across the seams –
We worship the geometry.
The trees and wood – the treason would
Cut down reason’s treachery.

We’ve been kneeling to a maniac,
And I’ve been casting my last stones.
We close shutters, hold close, and shudder.
Count each breath, each pebble thrown.

We’ve been wandering for millennia,
And I’ve been gracing bullets’ skin.
We kiss deserts filled with lepers,
And count the inches the blisters grin.

“Informant”

It seems as though there is so much to report.
I play a central role;
The status quo’s such
A hierarchy of control.

I’m just a fraction of the whole,
A functioning exception to the rule.
Balance has a price,
But equilibrium will have to suffice.

Eyes focus in to the podium
For a week of disorientation.
I will show you how to conform
To this situation.

You’re just a number on the roll,
A smiling face to match the name is optional.
You can do the math,
but you won’t find a sum – they only subtract.

I’m just a picture on the wall,
A smiling face inside a frame displayed for all
To evaluate.
But my time will come … it’s never too late!

“The Teeth of Temptation”

I ask not what the weather wants;
I look for what I need.
I sat down with a vampiress,
and she confessed herself to me.

Lycanthropy can’t be the only cause or reason.
Valor was the better part of indiscretion.
Maybe this is just our intermission.
“That’s all, folks” is only an expression.

We basked in lights of paler whites.
We kissed for centuries.
But that moon’s a cruel temptress:
She undressed my soul as well as body.

“A Suitcase and a Kite Fall in Love”

I got up from my desk
To write out empty checks,
To pay for all of my mistakes,
However much it takes.

I had to leave the place
Where I was born and raised.
I packed all of my memories.
Now here I am,
With my suitcase.

And I keep writing down the words
That don’t mean a thing.
I’ve tried so hard to make shit look pretty,
But it’s not so easy,
So I keep planting flowers.

I used to have a kite.
I held the string so tight.
But I had to let it go one day;
It caught the wind and flew away.

And I woke up from my dreams,
In a world I’d never seen.
Look at all those kites up there.
You should let them go,
They belong in the air.