HEAD UNDERWATER

 

HEAD UNDERWATER

Head underwater,

Keeps getting harder.

The tide pulls tight, a suffocating grip,

Lungs burn raw, as the currents rip.

A world above, so distant, so far,

Drowning in silence, beneath the star.  Give 'em your medicine,

Fame injection.

A bitter pill, swallowed in haste,

A needle of glory, a fleeting taste.

It numbs the ache, but the soul stays sore,

A hollow high, craving something more.  Tell him to jump higher,

Tell him to run farther.

The bar swings high, a relentless dare,

Feet pound earth, through the thinning air.

Each demand a chain, each word a shove,

A test of will, a theft of love.  Make him measure up,

Decades longer than you.

A life stretched out, beyond the years,

A race through time, fueled by fears.

To outshine the past, to bear the load,

A path of ash, a heavy road.  Piece it together,

It’s like weather.

A storm brews wild, no calm in sight,

Clouds twist and turn, day into night.

Fragments of dreams, scattered and frail,

A forecast of hope, doomed to fail.  Watch him travel,

Kiss the gravel.

The miles stretch on, a grueling race,

Falls mark the skin, scars trace the face.

The crowd looks on, their cheers a weight,

A hero’s march, to a lonely fate.  The water climbs, I claw for air,

The depths below, a cold despair.

Each stroke a fight, each gasp a plea,

A soul adrift, longing to be free.

The surface gleams, so close, so vast,

A fleeting dream, slipping too fast.  Tell him to jump higher,

Tell him to run farther.

The call returns, a ceaseless cry,

A shadow looms, the stakes climb high.

No pause, no rest, just endless flight,

A prisoner bound to the fading light.  Make him measure up,

Ten times longer than you ever should.

Beyond the brink, where reason frays,

A marathon run through endless days.

The goal recedes, a cruel mirage,

A life unmoored, a grand barrage.  You never could explain them to me,

Explain them to me.

The why, the how, a mystery deep,

A riddle locked, a secret to keep.

Voices command, but the truth stays mute,

A quest for sense, a lost pursuit.  The glare of fame, a searing beam,

A hollow crown, a broken dream.

The stage is bright, the mask is thin,

A game of worth, no one can win.

Applause rings out, then fades to black,

A star burns out, no turning back.  Strings pull tight, I twist and sway,

A marionette, in their cruel play.

No voice to speak, no will to bend,

A life dictated, without an end.

The puppeteer laughs, the crowd applauds,

A soul enslaved, against all odds.  Tell him to jump higher,

Tell him to run farther.

The refrain persists, a haunting song,

A rhythm of right, a chorus of wrong.

Yet in the strain, a spark ignites,

A quiet strength, through endless nights.  Make him measure up,

Decades longer than you.

But through the grind, a truth takes hold,

A tale of fire, in embers told.

The weight may crush, the spirit may bend,

Yet still it fights, to the very end.  You never could explain them to me,

Explain them to me.

Perhaps the key lies in the fray,

A self reborn, through night to day.

The push, the pull, the endless plea,

A mirror to what we’re meant to be.  Head underwater,

But I rise again.

The struggle scars, but so does grace,

A buoyant heart, in a boundless space.

The medicine fades, the fame unwinds,