[Verse I]
Winter froze our crooked fingers into praying hands
At a January funeral for a sweet faced man
When we pulled black suits out of closets once again
And squeezed our fatter bodies into them
To carry a casket through a catholic parade
Full of tissues and condolences
Till a priest spoke your name
In a mundane way he prayed
Claiming you were in a better place
I'm not convinced but hope that it's the case
When springtime arrives and melts away the snow around your grave
I'll still remember you in 10th grade
With a teenage smirk
Disc-man works of Richard D. James
That image will stay burnt onto my brain
I'll miss you like our younger days
We'll miss you like our younger days
Before grays started showing our age
Attempting to love life as much as you did
Won't remember you painted in a box
Not a cliché at a wake
Not a tear drop
[Hook]
Not a cliché
Not a tear drop
Not a cliché
Not a tear drop
You are forever
[Verse II]
Mother's house is covered in your photographs
Every angle of your face
Every age
Every hair style phase
And we puffy eyed droogs
Huddle in her memorial gallery
For the first of our gang to pa** beyond the galaxy
Tangled in uncomfortable laughs
Masking the cracks in speaking voices
Unable to come to terms with the fact that you won't be back
As much as we dream of reviving you
Right now we don't know how to react
Or where to find you
We'd fight for you
We'd break bones
Bite through stone
And punch holes directly into the depths of the unknown
Till our fists turned bloody red
But today we're sitting in silence
Without a life to defend
Lost without our friend
And I'm at a loss for words...
Searching for a thousand more ways to say that
"Life is cruel and absurd"
That "it wasn't your turn"
But you're buried in dirt
While I'm still walking this earth
Disgusted by the f**ing world
If this is how it works
[Hook]
[Verse III]
Battling with faith
And it's hard to say if I'll see you again
Not sure what I believe in the end
But I'm at least confident
That I'll catch glimpses of you in contours of your sister's face
Or your fiancées gaze upon any mention of your name
You visited during prison bunk visions
So lucid and vivid
That it almost convinced me
For minutes
That you were still living
But now I'm wide awake and a cynic
Chewing on birthday cake and been livid
Wishing that I could write a song to bring back the dead and fix all things wicked
But I better leave this selfishness and let you rest
See you again at the peak of Connecticut fall
When leaves turn red
Or within that San Francisco fog
So thick it can blanket the bridges
And cover our damages
I'll see you again
Within the serenity of
Atlanta magnolias
My friend
Though I dreamt of fixing all wrongs...
Unclogging lungs from blood clots...
Sometimes we're forced to stop
And appreciate moments we all got
So I'll shut my mouth at last
Surrender myself to the chaos
It'll all go by so fast
Beyond the end
Love you Rob
[Hook]