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.”