These are compulsions Misplaced actions formed from unformed words Shattering my dignity And forcing confusion Spent these past few years grieving Over the death of a well formed brain But who am I kidding? I was always this way So with these obsessions I'll make them mine And kill them slow everyday, over time Entitle myself As worthy as the rest To not be trapped until my death Spent these past few years grieving Over the death of a well formed brain I was always this way So with these obsessions I'll make them mine And kill them slow one day at a time I am more than my intrusions I deserved to be freed

Broken promises Misplaced concept of forever But this smile says I'm trying Burden burned across my back As ageless anguish Accumulates among me Karma encompasses these feelings so weak And as we break, I'll feel you within me Focus forward, and I'll take two steps back I'm just a branch among the trees I'm the burden at your feet

[Tyler] I reach into the trash can I pull out a receipt for a calendar and a Red Bull People cuddle up under windows, tucked inside blanket vaults As the storm they are watching sends cars into guardrails Sends loved ones into cemeteries I’m walking home from your dorm And the hallway smells like “what were we just talking about?” Two people lock eyes in a bookstore They see nebulae reflected in corneas And continue perusing used paperbacks At home, I sleep until the afternoon My phone buzzes ad infinitum I am still asleep A life encased in amber Aptitude translated to inability Through a thesaurus of anxiety We are in my mother’s van And the city is growing smaller behind us Mannheim is closed It is night time in a place where animals rule the streets Headlights soak the asphalt sometime in the distant past Cloaked in loathing, I lie motionless in my bed As figures writhe in the static of darkness The trees are falling down They are clearing the forest where nothing can be forgiven And only the rotten parts can crawl out from beneath the stones And amble where the sun’s rays are not permitted to rest I am standing next to a trash can I throw away a receipt for a Red Bull and a calendar [Ben] Various strategies Overcoming emotion Dazed out and drenched in self-pity Echoes of consciousness continuously loop As shadows of the past year disappear Deeply buried in self-loathing When my potential took a turn in my head Sorry, never meant such a lie Smoke engulfs itself in warm embrace Giving my lungs a sense of comfort Putting my brain to rest I am as broken as the rest I am broken

[Ben] A man made of glass Disintegrating into a luminous trail Struggling to recollect his past A portrait of imbalanced mind Struggling to keep sane In this shattered earth Please take him in Empty all of his burdens Bleed his brain numb [Tyler] Your house, it is burning [Ben] You're fueling the fire