I watched the empire fall while I was waiting on a tire rotation
Or was it on the day that I met my ex's shaman?
Either way it's just a bit mundane
I remember as a kid - mobile classroom holding hands
Young christians with good intentions calling for a stranger's head
I found it all just a bit too much

So I got stoned to laugh it off
I coughed up blood on the casino tile
Red and white just like the fear that's in my eyes
I can see the things I've wasted
And that I'm a part of the equation

It's corrective lens and chipped glass
Rubber bullets flying by
It's someone drowning in the tear gas
Hum along to the hypersonic cry
Saying "come eat us alive!"

It's a childhood friend holding tight onto his gun
Wrote a letter to a judge to try to help him keep his son
And now he's in an unmarked van stealing children off the street

So I got stoned and opened up my mouth
Feigned surprise when no sound came out
It feels like clawing out my eyes
The knowing nod and the urge to disappear again
So I kill the things I wanted

Collective shrug
The pendulum swings
It's like I'm fighting off the bends and singing
Asking aloud, "What about me? Don't I deserve to be happy?"
"Your happiness is a war crime when there's 10k more on the chalk lines."
I wish they'd come in the night and let the optimist die

Pray to god that we go quick
Let's not romanticize about it
Just let the noise of the feedback start to rise
It still is the way it is
It had to balance in the end
And we're a part of the equation