"The Middle of Nowhere" "Now and then, I'll get into a conversation, with some lifelong urbanite type, We might speak of the weather, maybe what's new in the world, or what we've got planned for tonight. But occasionally, the topic turns to "where do you live?" And they'll say "why on earth do you live out there? Out in the middle of nowhere?" Well I think that question would be better put, not to me, but from me to them, Because I was just about to ask them much the very same thing. Because these people live on cookie cutter streets, where you can barely tell each house apart, Where you look out your window, straight in through your neighbors', and there's hardly any room to park, Where blades of grass are outnumbered by cars, and humans outnumber the trees. And that's the middle of nowhere to me. Where a traffic light can cycle 3 times, but you won't move the length of your car, Well at that rate, guess it's no wonder they think a 40 mile drive is so far, Where a brat in a civic cares more about his cell phone, than his own safety, let alone yours, Where the driveways are lucky to be 20 feet long, and the parking lots have about 10 floors, Where the scent of the air is gasoline fumes, instead of the smell of the sea, And that's the middle of nowhere to me. Where your neighbor is 8, maybe 10 feet away, but you don't know who lives 3 doors down, Well how do you know who you have to watch out for, if you don't know the whole damm town? No wonder there's news of a robbery, every night on the TV, And that's the middle of nowhere to me. And their idea of nature is a manicured trail, with boardwalks just like their own decks, And finely landscaped paths of crushed stone composing all of the rest? Don't get me wrong, I love swans and ducks, but do these ones realize they're free? And that's the middle of nowhere to me. Where you almost need a permit to mow your own lawn, or plaster a hole in your wall, Where you spend less on a reno at the building supply store, than you do at city hall, Where there's taxes on taxes, and you can barely breathe the smog ridden air for free, And that's the middle of nowhere to me. Sometimes I must venture into these streets, and I'd just as soon be in a maze, The houses all look like one building, they're so similar, so narrowly spaced, Half a million a piece, and if I were to bet, I'd say the bank owns them all, After all, I don't think my road is as long as the bank building downtown is tall. If I can ever find my way back to the highway, I'll feel like a prisoner set free. And that's the middle of nowhere to me. It's crazy how someone can feel all alone, surrounded by a million of their own kind. I'd rather be surrounded by a million birch, juniper, spruce, fir and pine. 2 is company, 3 is a crowd, a city damm sure don't need me. And that's the middle of nowhere to me."
The Demon, Part I (The Promise Of A Monster) "Tonight, I will reveal my true form to the blissful ignorant. I will take the form of the savage demon. I will catch you unaware. I will make everything you've ever done a mistake, Then I will punish you for every mistake you ever made, And then I will punish you for every mistake mankind has ever made. You will never have a moment of peace again. You may have a roof over your head, but you will never be truly at home again. I will follow you at all times, I will be with you forever, but happiness will elude you. Try as you like, you'll never escape. You'll look in the mirror and see my face. I will be a glowing demon, my face will burn bright, But you will be a skeleton, a withered shell. The life will be drained from your eyes, The spirit will be drained from your heart, The energy will be drained from your soul. Your body will be useless, Your mind will lose its edge. You'll fail because you'll have no drive to succeed. I will rule your world, I will not let you leave. You'll walk in invisible chains forever. You'll have no hope, you'll have no control. You'll have nothing. You'll wish there is no afterlife, just the final rest of death. You'll have nothing to live for. You'll beg for mercy that will not come. I'll never be through with you. I'll be with you. I'll be staring you in the face, and when you turn to run, I'll be behind you. I will suck your tears dry, and I will keep sucking until your eyes see nothing but my face. I will burn you out. I will surround you. I will crush you. I will choke you with invisible fingers. I will suck the life from you. I will suck the spirit from you. I will suck your soul until you fade to nothing. I will suck your memories from you. I will kill you little by little. I will torture you. I will destroy you. And I will destroy everything you love." The Demon, Part II (Ode To The Man Who Ruined My Life) "I never thought I'd be where I am now. This is one of those things that happens to someone else, Till it happens to you. You don't know suffering till you're the victim. To the outside world, I'm spoiled and ungrateful. They don't understand, but I hope they never do. I wish I didn't. But I do. I know nothing but suffering. I suffer in silence, I bottle up oceans of emotions. I have no will, I have no energy. I have no plans, for I have no future. I regret everything I've done, I regret everything I haven't done. My chance for success is gone. My life is over, I'll never be myself again. I'll try to go home, But it will just be a house. I worked so hard to make a home, And now it's a house of pain. A warm dry bed where I will try to count my blessings, But you've stolen all that made me happy. My keepsakes are reminders of a past I must forget. Walls I built for sanctuary have turned to bars, Terrifying free fall in a bottomless pit, A tunnel with no light and no end. I finally understand the mind who can't live with itself. I fight the temptation to take the most desperate measures daily. I try to tell myself life is to short for this, But my life is over, you stole everything. I'm a walking hulk, an empty soul. I can't fight anymore, I've come to accept it. I love nothing, because you've turned my whole world into triggers. I look in a mirror with 20/20 hindsight, I should never have given you a chance. But I can't change the past that stole my future. I must forget the past I should remember fondly, For even my memories are haunted by your horrible face. I try to let my mind go blank, When I think at all, I think of you. You're everywhere I go, an invisible demon on my shoulder. I see you in everything I once loved. Now I hate it all. I hate you. I was taught forgiveness, But also an eye for an eye. I wonder if you'll come to understand what you've done. My only wish is to never see your face again. You wouldn't stand a chance if we fought in flesh and blood, I could physically destroy you. But I see you around, and I collapse. The sight is more than i can bear. You sick, weak man, you have all the strength in the world choking my spirit. My only hope of escape seems beyond my reach. Could I somehow start over, forget my whole past? Take on a new identity and live freely once more? Is there hope? Would your death give me any relief in life?"
