Elephant - Sparks of Humanity lyrics

What else can I do but stay alive? As a vagrant I wander the wastes Unhealing wounds upon my scarred heart A victim bearing the brands as trophies These are the years of transformation Of savage decisions and necessary cruelty Running out of a habit of danger Crushing beauty as if to feel beautiful I wish I had not rejected the few who cared I miss them now like an echo of gratitude How I wept as those sparks were extinguished Still I dream of their faces through the dust Night upon night, afraid to share my pain Ashamed to even ask, learning to be helpless Moonlight is harsh and full of memories Still the scream remains inside I am the pallid light of pressure without grace Blank with despair, heated and weary I am a pale beast tamed by a lamb Mouth stretched like the stupid yawn of chattel Treating myself as fragile, shattered by the wind A crawling, cringing, daunted coward Degraded by inveterate fear and retrograde guilt And the sudden tragic end I am a blasted husk in this scorched landscape None remain to cry for the dead, no hope for what I once was I am this fallen earth of utter loss and barren spirit Dark emotions beneath an arch of hatred Still I feel rhythms in the empty streets As vultures circle in missing man formation Searching this planet for the secret trove Eager to hear the voices of the ones I loved Harshness, desolation, coldness, survival Stalked by disease, hunger and scarcity The stubborn reek of leprous stink What remains does not live Likely, I will not see tomorrow Yet worrying about the future is another way to change it Tenacious, determined, and adapting As character is chiseled between extremes Every child is the only child A universe of individuals - each alone A warrior without weapons is a warrior still Shifting, growing, improvising destiny