BEFORE YOU - Lyrics

Young boy denies his age and seeks out older games,

going to be a big man, bigger than

the world of happy innocence.

Young boys with old men's mouths

have found him in their ways,

he must show his quality and faith in moral dissonance.

So balanced on the edge of all the goodness he has ever known,

he takes one last look at all he's leaving.

But the jeers and jests of brazenness

revile the ways that he’s been shown,

and almost drown the inner voice that's pleading.

Your whole life falls before you now.

Breathe deeply and know

we reap all that we sow.

A man now, who burned his youth and aged but never grew,

stares through cold eyes barred with steel

that hides the crying child inside.

He numbs pain by making more for others to endure

and he's held from better ways

by the veil of his unyielding pride.

The city lights are darkened by the closeness of the alley walls

and here the old man falls and begs for mercy.

Suddenly the veil is torn

as the young man hears his father's voice,

in shame he owns his dying heart is thirsty.

"Is it too late," he calls in tears, "to turn from where I've soiled my years,

can I still find, somewhere, a life of meaning?"