Vessel - Glue

Happy Birthday to me

(to me)

25 years old today

(today)

It’s my birthday

(birthday)

Happy Birthday, Vessel

(They're not coming back for you)

Happy Birthday Dear, dear, dear

Vessel

Vessel

Vessel

The first thing I remember brings me 25 years back

Overcast morning, the kind that almost looks fake

First thing I saw was white walls, and bright light bulbs

Blurry pictures and hands holding cans of paint

The image used to be clear, but the years were never kind

Your past is always playing tricks on your mind

Muffled noises slowly became voices

Hovering over my body watching God’s miracle happen

Life shot through my limbs

And they started asking questions

But I couldn’t answer with the comprehension

Being newborn status

Classes don’t start for a while

I know I’m not the fastest thinker

But I was quickly mobile

At an early age my chores started like everyone else

My friends don’t speak much

But at least they’re there help

When there is work to be done, one of three sons, I’ve always been special

The others got boring names, but my parents called me Vessel

Middle name 1208 and I don’t complicate

I keep busy and have no time to waste

Careening with the social scene, or playing on sports teams

(But now I’ve misunderstood what they meant)

See, when teens aren’t supervised, they’ll kill each other

AND I KNOW FIRSTHAND FROM WATCHING OVER MY BROTHERS

(Watch my brothers)

But tonight we celebrate the day that I was born

And every year I wait by the window and listen for the horn

(Listen for the horn)

(They haven’t showed up and I don’t understand why

(It's been three hours)

And I don’t, I don’t think that they know anything they’ve done

(And I don’t understand, why)

I’m worried about them

I’m wondering if something’s happened

(«I was sitting…»)

(«narc»)

3 hours late and usually I wouldn’t complain

But their absence today us more than just a little strange

Should I be suspicious?

My record’s flawless

I’ve watched them sleep while my hands cropped the harvest

This house is keeping secrets

It’s got the worst timing

So I’ll force these walls to tell me where my family is hiding

Providing light for my search

Flipped the switch in the kitchen

The windows were open;

something stirring caught my vision

On the table next to a phone number that I’ve never seen

Scattered papers in a folder and a picture of me

It was a title of ownership from 1978

For a registered machine with the initials of my name

And stapled to the title was a receipt for for disposal

With today’s date on it

And a signature from the owners

This can’t be right, I don’t understand what this means

These papers say that this machine is me?!

(that this machine is me)

(But how can she be me?

I don’t understand

I read all of it but most of it was worthless

Except that «your 25 years…

Your machine is out of service…»)

Let them come for me

(LET THEM KNOW THAT THIS IS WHAT THEY’RE DOING TO ME)

He doesn’t really care for me anymore

THEY WANT THIS

(This is not their kid)

I spent my whole life thinking I was human

They tricked me into thinking I was one of them

So the chores would be done

The laundry would be picked up

The house would be clean

All I wanted I ever wanted self esteem

I wanted respect in a race that was alien to me

How could I feel alive and just be machinery?

I’m angry at what they’ve done;

MY FAMILY IS MY LIFE

They’ve left me here tonight by myself to be sacrificed

I’ll go to the roof and I’ll give them what they want

And if I’m so robotic then the pain was never real

Just a program to bind man’s way to my flesh

Only after 25 years does it all now make sense?

What kind of god leaves you tortured with free thought?

Keeps you alive for labor then recycles the spare parts

They can have these limbs;

then return them to my parents

(Tell them Vessel tried to find the truth under her skin)

Three stories high, but one story over

Metal hits the ground

Brain smashes

Closure

(I'm a narc?)

(There's nothing special about you. You’re just an ordinary program.)

(How could he be able to do that?)

Never thought that I was trapped

Never needed an escape

Never thought that I was trapped

Never needed an escape

Never thought that I was trapped

Never needed an escape

I never thought that I was trapped

Never needed an escape

I never thought that I was trapped

I never needed an escape

I never thought that I was trapped

I never needed an escape

I never thought that I was trapped

I never needed the escape

I never thought that I was trapped

I never needed the escape