Solitude - Aaron Thompson

I’m on a bus with a neon sign

That says double happiness

It’s been a lonely July

I’m running out of breath

It’s midnight in New England

And I’ve got the only light

On my way back to Baltimore

Route 95

I’m thinking of a movie

Starring only silhouettes

The more you think about it

The less you understand.

The antagonistic hero

And his artificial grin

Ride their bicycles to war

As the sun begins to set.

Solitude’s a root

And existence is the tree

You cannot eat the fruit

Without pushing past the leaves

The harder that it hurts

The louder you can sing

A life without some pain

Doesn’t mean a thing.

A gypsy from Los Angeles

Drew visions from my hand

She said I don’t know where I’m going

But I’m sure about the end

She pulled out a faded picture

Of an orchard and the sea

Said 'I used to live there

Before the war took him from me'

I thought if broken hearts could kill

We’d all be dying lonely deaths

We’d be actors in that movie

And we’d all be silhouettes

But the hand that goes around the clock,

It comes back again

So stand up and cast your shadows

On the cold pavement.

Solitude’s a root

And existence is the tree

You cannot eat the fruit

Without pushing past the leaves

The harder that it hurts

The louder you can sing

A life without some pain

Doesn’t mean a thing