If you’re going to take, take a moment for yourself. That’s alright. If you want to spend, spend your days in wonder of the beauty of the night. If you’re going to lose, lose yourself in her or him, whoever they may be. And if you have to leave, leave your mark upon the world. Make a memory. And if ever you feel like jumping, you should jump for joy for the fact you can feel. And if ever you long for something. let it be no longer for things that aren’t real. This is the only life you get. You can live it if you want to. This is the only life you get. How is that not your mantra? If you’re going to cry, cry out loud into the dark, and be a light. If you want to rage, rage against the cold machine inside your mind. If you’re going to break, break these chains that hold you down. Set yourself free. And if you have to go, go for broke and take your chance. Let whatever be. And if ever you feel like falling, you should fall in love; it’s a wonderful ache. And if ever you learn from something, let it be from what comes of the choice you now make. This is the only life you get. You can live it if you want to. This is the only life you get. How is that not your mantra?

I see a burning wind And it’s kicking up the dust that settled on my skin Beyond the cloud and smoke is where I find Something to remind All my fingers are trembling And if the conversation lags, then I can always sing I can feel the sun inside me start to shine But it never feels like it’s mine Then in an instant it came to me A thousand countless moments of missing memories It took eternity for me to come around Oh, I bet my soul is in the lost and found Can anybody tell me my name? I never had a mind to believe it would never be the same. I’m falling into something I cannot explain. Can anybody tell me my name?

Fate is just a word, and when life insists I must remember this. Whenever it occurred, it was I who put upon a pedestal the precipice. Creation is a curse. I burn something down to foundation to build another edifice. Another lesson learned, another turn of phrase to find the artifice in all of this. All I need is a moment here to breathe, and just be. Everything will come together after this, I promise. Patience is obscured by the nervous sting of the urgency of things. Another vision blurred, from the shift in my eyes, to the one pulling my strings. Before I find myself immersed in a sea of slings and arrows, throwing fists I take a moment first, all the while I persist I must remember this. All I need is a moment here to breathe, and just be. Everything will come together after this, I promise. Fate is four-letter word, and when life insists I must remember this. A concept so absurd, it was I who placed upon a subtlety the emphasis. Regret is something worse, the way things turn out confounds all your efforts to the opposite. I take a moment first, take time to exist. I must remember this.

I don’t feel as old as I am. I don’t think I ever will. I still try all that I can. I still cannot sit still. I won’t reel from holes in my plans. I make some for the thrill of it. I still give all that I have. And I will, I will get myself a taste for a little bit of sin, some fun ones that won’t hurt anyone or anything except my silly sense of time, and my need to fill it in, for I have lost my innocence and I haven’t missed it since. I’m over giving up. I am all out of giving in. I just found out I’m all about giving myself a second skin to cover up the one that’s mine with one that has never been. So now I’m shedding it to show how this all ends where it begins. There’s no time. I know I can’t fast-forward or rewind. No time to stop and think, “Where the hell does all the time go?” so, I just go with it. I might make a few mistakes, that I know I could avoid, just to say that they’ve been made, because chaos reigns the void. And I know ours are the hours, days, and decades of our lives, but it only took a moment for me to open up my eyes to see I measure out my life in such tiny increments, so I hope every second counts itself as time well spent, ‘cause I’m no longer keeping track, except for tallying my laughs, and all the time I take for that, because I know it doesn’t last. (chorus) I take time to stop and take a look around myself. I’ve found myself in this. There’s no time. (We made it up, time, we gave it up.) I know I can’t fast-forward or rewind. (So wasted up, you can’t save it up.) And I don’t care to know where the hell does all the time go, I just go with it. I take time to stop and take a look around myself, I’ve found myself in this. And every time the time I take takes too much of me, I remind myself of this. There’s no time. (We made it up, time, we gave it up.) I know I can’t fast-forward or rewind. (So wasted up, you can’t save it up.) No time to stop and think, “Where the hell does all the time go?” so, I just go with it. Where the hell does all the time go? Who knows. Just go with it . . .

The light hits me, and I need to breathe life, and so I proceed to inhale, let me take it all in. On the verge of a revelation, on the edge of my destination, I exhale, and I fully fall in. I evened out around the equator. Took the time I’ve been saving for later. Surprised how the change in latitude caused a change in attitude. Now I burn for those solar moments, and turn with the urges they foment to realize my rebirth, my connection with the Earth. Give me some of that warm and bright sunshine To release me from a cold and darker time To relieve me every fear and doubt of mine And break me off some peace of mind Let it ease my mind Into the blue of the ocean, and out of the bluest emotion, I give me whole-hearted devotion. Sweet thing, could pass me the lotion? The light hits me and I blink, and everything is bright in my sight, and I might take flight tonight if I drink, feeling like I am all kinds of alright. I need to my feet on white sand. I need to sip this glass in my hand. I need someone out there to understand how much this man standing here needs a suntan. I want to take a fast car to a fast plane. I want to take it past far, change my last name. I want a taste of the good life, good times with a twist of lime, now give me some of that warm and bright sunshine . . . The light hits me like a gift, an ever-present lift and I groove to tidal rise-and-fall of it all, and I don’t ever want to move. I feel like anything is possible. I feel like everything is optional. Get over me, it ‘sthe only obstacle, and get myself a little bit of tropical. The light hits me and melts away the stress I had from before, makes me need to feel what I felt, and I’m a fiend who always wants more. So I’m in this state planting palm trees, in my head ‘til the dread is beyond me, with my head full of zombie, I want to feel it fall upon me. Give me some of that warm and bright sunshine . . .

With Similarities To Singularities (Sqwerty) We were like when worlds collide, Annihilated by the impact. I could see it coming for miles, But never a thought crossed my mind to react. Now we’re like when stars collapse. Explode into nothingness, Fade to black. Like the circles in your eyes, and In them I see the event horizon. (Chorus) Whether you weather me or not, still we storm. We are on a faster path. So what comes after that Is nearly over. Within me, Without you, Will my soul Wither In the aftermath Of my fit of happiness, Clearly over? And like when the planets align, We were perfect in the disarray. But only for a time, and so it passed. Everything turns out that way. Everything moves along its path. Prediction is easy, just do the math. You’ll see what we are with clarity. A singularity, and Whether you Weather me or not, Still we storm. We are on A faster path. So what comes after that Is nearly over. Within me, Without you, Will my soul Wither In the aftermath Of my bit of happiness, Clearly over? From what we create, a constellation aggregates. Its outline traces the shape of my own private universe. Be it physics or fate, we begin to separate. The space between us expands, and the energy is dispersed. You ever wish you could erase the past? Sometimes just slow it down just to make it last And in these relationships we all break our backs Sometimes it’s really hard to grin and face the facts So we both keep pushing like the same old same shit We swallow pride even though it sucks to taste it Face it, somehow we complicate this And basically waste all this goodness and gracious? It used to be faceless It's got a name now Now I understand It’s all pain How easily it seems to me that the scenery changes I can’t believe it but you know that I gave it away It’s a high price for the love and the hate It’s my right to consider it waste If I write my life Nobody gon’ be filling your place It’s been forever and it’s still a disgrace We were like when stars are born. All that matters begins to coalesce, And heavier things are formed, When all of the right elements acquiesce. Now we’re like when stars collapse. Explode into nothingness, Fade to black. Like the circles in my eyes, and In them you’ll see the event horizon. Whether you Weather me or not, Still we storm. We are on A faster path. And what comes after that Is nearly over. Within me, Without you, Will my soul Wither In the aftermath Of my bit of happiness, Clearly over?

I dream, and sometimes I don’t want to wake up, ‘cause I’m in love with everything in my head. And in the mornings I am sad to see them go. I’d rather stay in bed instead. Give me five more minutes of this peaceful sleep. It will make the alarm sound like music to my ears. Just five more minutes in a world I can control gets me through the years. ‘Cause I dream, and each time it’s just amazing. I’m in love with the things that I see. And every evening I just marvel at my mind, even the things that frighten me. I need five more minutes of this wonderful sleep. It will make the alarm sound like music to my ears. Just five more minutes in a world of my design gets me through the years. It’s my nightly escape. It takes me far away. And I’m in so deep I could lie here forever. And I know I’m caught up, but I don’t ask for that much, just a little more - I will feel a lot better. I feel so much better. And I dream, but most times I don’t remember. I can only tell you how it made me smile. And I love the little flashes of it later that take me back to where I was for a while. Give me five more minutes of this beautiful sleep. It will make the alarm sound like music to my ears. Just five more minutes in a world that’s all my own gets me through the years.

Now, if I start to cry, I swear to God I might lose my nerve It’s all traces of me, inside shadows and blurred I’ve been travelling for too damn long now, recognize home is where I stop and fall down If it’s close to Waldbaum’s, train runs regular, nature of the neighborhood is liberal and secular Armpit of America, every day measure of where I should be and where my rhyme book never was Yeah, I’m trying to exceed the local, take the dope vocals make the focal point global Avoid going postal with a .22 and trench coat, walk around this oval with a blank stare and headphones Welcome to the dead zone, and moments are taken, everybody shuts down like their souls are forsaken Getting harder to breathe with arteries that are breakin’ I should take mine and leave but I sold them to Satan, its where I live From the outside in, I break through and under your skin But no matter how I extend I always end where I begin Moving out from within, what I give, you take everything in Still I end where I begin, I find myself home again It’s getting dangerous, and maybe just I could believe an angel is over my shoulder, laziness holding me back and saying this. Tragic, the world is baby-less, raising themselves atheist, I pray its worth saving, the planet was once apes and shit. Nothing ever changes. It all stays so stagnant, painted in the corner ‘cause I chose to back in Relaxing, I’m feeling like the only lone horseman, proceed with caution, live life like I’m lost when I should be an abortion, parents were divorced and people treated me like a red-headed little orphan That’s why every so often my coffin is visualized crossing into the skies Ryan lived once, here lies Verbal’s physical Walked around with mortals, now I’ll show’em what my spirit do Peering through panes of glass, living on sinner’s time Steering through blades of grass until the finish line. Yeah. From the outside in, I break through and under your skin But no matter how I extend I always end where I begin Moving out from within, what I give, you take everything in Still I end where I begin, I find myself home again Now it’s easy to say, harder still to achieve Every piece of me is screaming this is where we should be Yeah, it’s sometimes hard, and nothing’s coming for free Take a knee is not an option. It’s not an option Now I’m watching as the days pass, smoking from the same stash Unaware of life until the day those two planes crashed Gained fast perspective, way past respect, it was reverence in the form of strong steadfast reflection And now my anthem is “live life now” Stand strong behind words I say and fight proud Observe with a watchful eye and write down Spit it back over tracks ‘til they turn the lights OK, get the game out, I read the rules, got a piece Trying to skip jail, straight to GO, Mic Monopoly Understand what’s not for me, manage money properly Probably I’ll find the right route, that’s how it’s got to be From the outside in, I break through and under your skin But no matter how I extend I always end where I begin Moving out from within, what I give you take everything in Still I end where I begin, I find myself home again

(Submitted for your consideration, the instrumental version of "Note To Self" . . . )

Pugnacity (Verbal) Yeah, I know, it’s like a struggle just to find some space Travel alone with your mind through this time and place No regrets, never wish I could rewind the day Hand in hand, know together we ‘gon find a way They say it’s easy, but it’s not always Just believe me that when you need I’ll be there all day Back to back, standing tall in the center of it Here I am and this man is just never budging It’s all or nothing, I’m giving till that well runs dry Until the stars fall, it’s our world, until we die Till the bell rings, till that fat lady is humming the tune Not for nothing, something keeps me running with you Say the word, book the flight, doesn’t matter if it took all night If it’s wrong or if it’s right As long as the song stays filling the air Never alone anymore, ‘cause you’ll be feeling me there I’m like, I’d do anything and everything for you It’s us against the world Me and you, whatever you need, I got that You only have to ask me to I’d do anything and everything for you It’s us against the world Anywhere, I’ll forever be there Just say the word I got you (Be) And if I ever fall back, you go that You are the friend who I depend on The one I rely on, and I know this much is true So I got you, forever And if I ever may slide by the wayside I hitch a ride on your wings and glide on I’ll say it three times to make it true You know I got you My mind is made up Remember me, the one who gives and never gave up The one who fights for you endlessly This kind isn’t the kind you pay back ‘Cause me and you we go way back And anyone can see What I do for you, you would do for me So, I’d do anything and everything for you It’s us against the world Me and you, whatever you need, I got that You only have to ask me to I’d do anything and everything for you It’s us against the world Anywhere, I’ll forever be there Just say the word When it’s harder to stand tall than fall When my father don’t man up and call When I’m only buck short and a day away When it starts and, of course, when it’s too late I got you when you’re laying it all on the line Since back in the day and always Until the end of time And our ghosts will haunt these hallways From homeboys to grownboys, diapers to boxers How these tables turned, now we turntable rockers This shit here is for my crew Put your glass in the air, say a prayer, salud In the now and then the hereafter Until I take my last breath And it will be the sound of laughter And I will be the last one left I’d do anything and everything for you It’s us against the world Me and you, whatever you need I got that You only have to ask me to I’d do anything and everything for you It’s us against the world Anywhere, I’ll forever be there Just say the word Now glide . . .

Let it free your mind Come on by Let me bring it one time My word to all mankind You've got to catch up Before you fall behind So, let it fill your ears We see you move And the groove is severe Let's get one thing clear You like what we do When we do this here . . .

Time cannot erase the promise I'm making to myself to rise above the everyday . . .