When I ride in your car
I feel safe as a child
So eternally blessed
So caressingly mild
Till somebody offends you
It won’t matter why
When we veer and careen
Down the highway

Sitting here by myself
Many lifetimes away
Wondering still
At this sad disarray
Would I find understanding
If my hands were clutching at that wheel?
What will I know when I feel?

We arrive at the park
Now the game has begun
Reenacting the rites
Linking father to son
Like some odd syncopation
Our rhythms collide
And we crash on our island of misery

When you lean down to speak
I lurch up to engage
Smacking your nose
Lke some slapstick charade
It’s a panic reaction you evoke
A memory of pain
Fear I can never explain

A set for a movie looks real on one side
An effect for the camera like filters and lights
I forget all my lines when the rage in your eyes
Has me falling, falling
No awards to be won in my role as a son
And I’m falling, falling

Walking the dog
And she strains to get free
There’s a world of sensation
To smell and to see
So she fails to obey
When you jerk on her line
You react like she’s done you an injury

So you lift her aloft
Now she’s choking for breath
Leaving me helplessly
Watching her death
Then you cast her before me with scorn
At her cowering disgrace
Shame that I feel in her place

A soldier in battle must rise to the fight
Rage at the foe as they try to survive
When you target civilians the fear that I feel
Sends me falling, falling
There’s no war to be won
Still you’re gripping a gun
And I’m falling, falling

You’re a great one for laughter
For smiling with ease
But it’s just imitation
Acquired expertise
There’s a curious absence of feeling inside
Simulation, a counterfeit comedy

There’s a strange disconnect
Between signal and sense
Faking a laugh is my only defense
It’s a cynical game that you play
To bend others to your will
Part of the joy that you kill

A set for a movie looks real on one side
An effect for the camera like filters and lights
When I look in your eyes
There is nothing to see
And I’m falling, falling
Just a cipher awakened
A soul absentee
And I’m falling, falling

It’s a character role
That’s been poorly conceived
When you rage and you hurt
And you hunt and you feed
On the young and the helpless
You find in your path
Like some predator form of paternity

If my life has a purpose if anything’s clear
Here’s where it ends all the pain and the fear
To forgive without knowing
Atoning for sins I don’t intend
Will I find peace in the end?

A set for a movie looks real on one side
An effect for the camera like filters and lights
Now the scenes are all done
No more father and son
And I’m falling

It’s the end of the play
And I’ve been cast away
And I’m falling, falling
Falling, falling
Falling, falling