elsewhere becomes everything

[VERSE 1]

We were halfway through the evening

when the evening started thinning.

Nobody had left yet.

Somehow everyone was missing.

I keep showing up half-ready,

with apologies to spare,

making eye contact

just to prove that I was there.

I’ve been making little promises

like kindling in the rain,

snuffed away by circumstances

I was counting on to change.

A street becomes a city

I will probably never see.

Nobody really disappears

they just stop happening to me.

[PRE-CHORUS]

Come on, come on

leave a little evidence.

Come on, come on

put some emphasis on your absence.

Come on, come on

make the distance make a difference.

[CHORUS]

Everybody I know

is leaving early.

Go on, go on

make it look easy.

Go on, go on

there’s always somewhere else to be.

You become elsewhere.

Elsewhere

becomes everything.

[VERSE 2]

I’ve been trying to get better

without getting too impressed.

There’s a difference between healing

and becoming less distressed.

There are names I still remember

though I wish I could forget.

There are nights I swore would kill me

that I haven’t shaken yet.

I’ve been treating every goodbye

like a fire drill for grief,

walking calmly through the practice

like preparedness is peace.

I’ve been dressing up my wanting

as something I never asked.

I’m afraid if I need nothing,

it’s exactly what I’ll get.

[PRE-CHORUS]

Come on, come on

leave a little evidence.

Come on, come on

put some emphasis on your absence.

Come on, come on

make the distance make a difference.

[CHORUS]

Everybody I know

is leaving early.

Go on, go on

make it look easy.

Go on, go on

there’s always somewhere else to be.

You become elsewhere.

Elsewhere

becomes everything.

[BRIDGE]

It's quiet; the way they expect me

to read the room around me,

but it's been years

since my sight was twenty-twenty.

So the room, like the page,

seems too empty,

and the difference leaves me resenting

how gold feels the same as pennies

placed on an offered palm

heavy and plenty.

These days I spend only

on what furthers my apathy,

keeping both hands full

of whatever they hand me,

so I don't have to notice

what isn't there already.

[FINAL CHORUS]

Everybody I know

is leaving early.

Go on, go on

make it look easy.

Go on, go on

there’s always somewhere else to be.

You become elsewhere.

Elsewhere

becomes everything.