People's Faces

It’s coming to pass, my countries coming apart

The whole thing’s becoming such a bumbling farce

Was that a pivotal historical moment we just went stumbling past?

Well, here we are, dancing in the rumbling dark

So come a little closer, give me something to grasp

Give me your beautiful, crumbling heart

Another disaster, catharsis

Another half-discarded mirage

Another mask slips

I face off with the physical

My head’s ringing from the love of the stars

There is too much pretense here

Too much depends on the fragile wages

And extortionate rents here

We’re working every dread day that is given us

Feeling like the person people meet really isn’t us

Like we’re gonna buckle underneath the trouble

Like any minute now, the struggle’s going to finish us

And then we smile at all our friends

It’s hard, we got our heads down and our hackles up

Our backs against the wall, I can feel you aching

None of this was written in stone

There is nothing we’re forbidden to know

And I can feel things changing

Even when I’m weak and I’m breaking

I’ll stand weeping at the train station

‘Cause I can see your faces

There is so much peace to be found in people’s faces

I saw it roaring

I felt it clawing at my clothes like a grieving friend

It said there are no new beginnings

Until everybody sees that the old ways need to end

But it’s hard to accept that we’re all one and the same flesh

Given the rampant divisions between oppressor and oppressed

But we are, though

More empathy, less greed, more respect

All I’ve got to say has already been said

I mean, you heard it from yourself

When you were lying in your bed and couldn’t sleep

Thinking, "Couldn’t we be doing this differently?"

I’m listening to every little whisper in the distance singing hymns

And I can, I can feel things changing

But it’s so hard, we got our heads down and our hackles up

Our backs against the wall, I can feel your heart racing

None of this was written in stone

The currents fast, but the river moves slow

And I can feel things changing

Even when I’m weak and I’m breakin'

I stand weeping at the train station

‘Cause I can see your faces

There is so much peace to be found in people’s faces

It’s not enough

To imagine we’ll be happy when we’ve got enough stuff

All this stuff is blocking us

I’m neat with no chaser

I’m all spirit, but I’m sinking

'Cause the days are not days but strange symptoms

And this age is our age

But our age is rage sinking to beige

And yes, our children are brave

But their mission is vague

Now I don’t have the answers

But there are still things to say

I stare out at my city on another difficult day

And I scream inwardly, "When will this change?"

I’m beginning to fade

But my sanity’s saved ‘cause I can see your faces

My sanity’s saved ‘cause I can see your faces

It’s hard, we got our heads down and our hackles up

Our backs against the wall, I can feel your heart racing

None of this was written in stone

The current’s fast but the river moves slow

And I can feel things changing

Even when I’m weak and I’m breaking

I stand weeping at the train station

‘Cause I can see your faces

I love people’s faces