1. |
Choose
03:26
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A fork splits the path ahead
The crown must fall on someone's head
But on both sides are hands stained red
And so our hearts are full of dread
So it starts as sides are taken
Monsters inside start to awaken
Hatred spreads reason forsaken
Faith in humankind is breaking
Choose your disease
At the hand of either blight we sicken
Choose your disease
As the rate of decline quickens
The tensions rise
To end it all
Before my eyes
The curtain falls
The war is won
Yet the battle still rages
It should all be done
But fools keep playing sages
So stop acting like you won
Your skin is burned and blistered by an empty sun
That gives us no light
Rewards not your praise
And to the others
Stop vomiting your vindication
Addressing each disaster with ostentation
It does us no better to die from a knife
Than from a sword
Choose your disease
Whether cut left or right we bleed
Choose your disease
Odysseus you’ve made your choice
Now fare the sea
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2. |
Someone
03:25
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Watching the colors fade to gray
He couldn’t take another day
He felt that his existence was a burden on the lives of everyone around him
Felt that they’d be better off if he could just disappear so that no one ever found him
Prone to observe and to listen
She saw something admirable in
His tendency to put others before himself and the kindness that he showed to strangers
His speed to empathy and understanding and his unwillingness toward anger
So scared to open her mouth
Something was blocking her speech
The thoughts and feelings were there
But words were out of her reach
She knew she needed a friend
But reaching out was so hard
To build connections that count
Her confidence was in shards
Resolved to exit the world
He formulated a plan
Turmoil overcame guilt
And he could no longer stand
The vicious cycle that fed
Itself continuously
Exhausted of treading water
In a boundaryless sea
She took a breath closed her eyes
Dug deep and found the courage
To put herself out on the line
To break her silence
To make a friend
She never knew that it would be
A turning point that set in motion
A sense of worth that would save his life
An understanding that he could not find alone
Someone who cared
Someone who cared
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3. |
Perspective
03:14
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What
Does
It
Mean
To understand
What
Does
It
Mean
To understand
When can perspective be
More than just a feeling
More than biased belief
More than arbitrary
When rooted deep in fact
Strong logic at its back
When can perspective be
More than just a feeling
More than biased belief
More than arbitrary
When rooted deep in fact
Strong logic at its back
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4. |
Threads
01:56
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As I’ve spent years
Stitching this quilt
I’ve searched through fabrics and threads and honed my skills
I’ve cut out pieces
That did not mesh
And even some that I was fond of failed the test
But you have
Threads to short to make a seam
Clumped up on the ground
Picking up random debris
As they’re blown around
Inconsistent structure
Inconsistent shape
Inconsistent content
As scraps are dropped and gained
And as I try to help
To teach you how to sew
You clutch your rat’s nest tighter
And tell me I should go
Laugh at my structure
Laugh at my form
And you think your pile of shreds
Will keep your family warm
Tell me I’m craven
Tell me I’m blind
Because my threads form
Continuous straight lines
Now your threads have become too frayed to use
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5. |
Swarm
03:13
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Traveling along
Trying to find a place
Where the river feeds the land
You’ve come so far
Had your hope erased
By mirages in the sand
A sense of relief
Fills your aching body
When you find more fertile ground
But the growth covers up
A secret dark and bloody
So beware the place you’ve found
A swarm takes to the air in a frenzy
Like a living cloud
The pheromones have marked you
Now they’ll chase until you’re turned around
Can’t see
Can’t breathe
Covered in bites and stings
Can’t stay
Can’t leave
Lest you give up your dream
Don’t give up your dream
No
How many stings can you take
The venom is building within you
How long will it be till they break
Your strength and resolve to continue
You’ve come too far to find this place
To make your home and thrive
You cannot give it up
Just cause you share it with a hive
They’ll hurt and sting and swell and bleed but if you suffer through
The calluses grow thicker into armor guarding you
Armor guarding you
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6. |
Humanity
03:27
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Balancing the urge to love
Something I am a part of
With the want to watch it die
As it destroys all other live
Swallowed
In a sea so vast and wide
Lost among
The countless others in the tide
Drowning in humanity
Each life a tiny droplet
Pooling in our lungs
Something so miniscule
Has become so deadly
Now
Drown
Poison spreads
Toxicity diffusing into everything
Building up
Every human being leaching waste
Into the sea
Our
Impact far beyond our size
As every cell withers and dies
Deprived of all its oxygen
Reduced to mush by the poison
Choking on humanity
Burning smoke particles are
Blackening our lungs
Something so miniscule
Has become so deadly
Now
Something so fundamental
Has become a toxin
Now
Drown
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Matthew Sandstrom
A human who loves making music.
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