Convince yourself you're better off alone

Have no hearth to mark your home

Few weeks here, few weeks there

But stubbornly reject ultimate care

 

When the rain comes and its pouring down

A roof won't stop what makes you drown

Should you just settle to live your life

Or refuse the knots to never know your next night

 

Follow the lines to where you've been

No itinerary, cursed for perceived sin

Don't know where you'll go

But figure it'll be alone

 

Convince yourself you're better off this way

Unsure you'll reach the next day

Few days around, few days between

Distance yourself from those who'd call you queen

 

Who made you think you're better off alone

Why object to the offer of a new home

Few friends here, fewer there

Pursued by thoughts that you're just scared

 

The same eyes and the same hair

But growing sad, but growing fair

Leaving saplings where you tread

But you see red, you look ahead

 

Only three and she knows lonely

Broken and built, they're just nineteen

Twenty one, swears off matching rings

Twenty two, sinking to the streets

 

Convince yourself you're an unsuitable lover

Stubbornly refuse gifted help from another

Few strings here, few strings there

Just too smart to believe its just care

 

Laundry sucking quarters like a vacuum machine

Dryer-fresh flavour of domesticity

Dollar after dollar, public transport ain't cheap

Can't exist for nothin', keep buyin' coffee

 

Hang and crawl along this clothes line

Callouses and crutches between good times

Strung along while you bleed

But is this real, or is this greed?

 

Convince myself its better to float free

Plaster my facade for those close to me

Few dabs for her, a few for you

How much 'til I can't shine through?

 

Convince myself I gotta go alone

Build a hearth, stone by cold stone

Love distantly to protect hearts

I'll find a place, just a few false starts

 

(Budding buttercups in my wake

Shared ground to root I just can't take

So my skin gets thick and my socks thin

At least my eyes tell what is within)

 

Convince myself I can just open up

But hop around without inviting love

Few words here, more words there

But every day ask them not to care

 

Convince myself I'm a lone vagabond

I can do it, I am strong

Few fractures and a couple cracks

Acceptance can't pierce through a plaster mask