Audience Of One

I can still remember

The words and what they meant

As we etched them with our fingers

In years of wet cement

The days blurred into each other

Though everything seemed clear

We cruised along at half speed

But then we shifted gears

We ran like vampires from a thousand burning suns

But even then

we should have stayed

But we ran away

Now all my friends are gone

Maybe we've outgrown all the things that we once loved

Run away

But what are we running from?

A show of hands from those in this audience of one

Where have they gone?

Identities assume us

As nine and five add up

Synchronizing watches

With the seconds that we lost

And I looked up and saw you

I know that you saw me

We froze but for a moment

In empathy

I brought down the sky for you

but all you did was shrug

You gave my emptiness a name

And you ran away

Now all my friends are gone

Maybe we've outgrown all the things that we once loved

Run away

But what are we running from?

A show of hands from those in this audience of one

Where have they gone?

We're all OK

until the day we're not

The surface shines

while the inside rots

We raced the sunset and we almost won

We slammed the brakes

but the wheels went on

And we ran away

Now all my friends gone

Maybe we've outgrown all the things that we once loved

Run away

But what are we running from?

A show of hands from those in this audience of one

Where have they gone?