Baby Steps from Cicada Exoskeletons by Tim Stiles

We proliferate demons when disregarding others
Cold feet won't freeze if we hide them under the covers
Solitary works up until we discover
That loneliness leads to holding to one another
 
The abrasiveness of concrete is a perfect metaphor
Once we stumble, knees scrape and its time to fight a better war
Callused heels start stuttering to the beat like
That moment when moths flicker, shadowing street lights

Hands quiver, thinking of demands we can’t deliver
Man-to-man we stamp a plan to plant a seed
It all goes hand-in-hand with labor pains we can’t alleve
Fanning the grief until an avalanche has us on our hands n knees
 
Can't we just be? The answer seems so deep
Necromancers dance in dreams for a whole week like old sheep
Caught in tradition without a pot to piss in
Civilization lost, waiting for a decision

(HOOK x2)
From birth we are driven
To run first, crawl second
Never resting, It's all nerves

Expectations are indeed
The reason we fall first
Before we even recognize we’re breathing 
(END HOOK)
 
Russian roulette with our wants, red rover with our needs
Games we play to pave the way to later daydreams
Trying to stake a claim, we hate the way the day-to-day seems
Afraid to escape the trade, the paycheck is what makes ends meet
 
Craving a mainstay, feeling fulfilled
No matter who’s killed within the process, we still ruin in order to build
Chain-link barriers prevent theft while the faint of heart
Pray for a heaven-sent sense of less stress
 
What is this mess we tend to set ourselves in?
Worrying too much about her and forgetting to help him
Melting each relationship with this selfish state of bliss
Braincells make a fist to box us in
 
Its the underlying fault of man, caught in a position
Retaining an upper hand that's lost in tradition
We are in division without at pot to piss in
A civilization sitting in waiting for a decision
 
(HOOK x2)
From birth we are driven
To run first, crawl second
Never resting, It's all nerves

Expectations are indeed
The reason we fall first
Before we even recognize we’re breathing 
(END HOOK)

Don't run out of breath yet if you're feeling like I do
Take baby steps. Your next life may not lie to you
Figuring out the missing link's like digging for a ring lost in a kitchen sink
When the whole time it's right behind you

Hardship's insignificant once the piano plays the dissonance
None of it mattered anyway when you slid back onto your index
Mingle around the water cooler pretend like you give a shit
About your colleagues and their cannon fodder they call common courtesy
 
This is not the life you ordered
This system does not work for you, you work for it
And throw fits further than the worthlessness of credit card purchases
A concern so pertinent, you need a perfect way to word it?

Well, this description is a perpetual intermission
Intellectuals won’t even listen to your pessimistic disposition
We are in division without at pot to piss in
A civilization sitting in waiting for a decision

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