I’ve always felt a kind of cloud
Surrounded me on all sides but one
I could always escape by going down
I could shrink and hide inside myself
Behind closed lips and eyelids
I could concentrate on denial
Hide shock with laughter and disgust with a smile
I never knew where to put my fingers or my gaze
I elevated ignorance to sanctity
And piled blankets on top of my shivering shame
I saw it all and pretended I was blind
Like everyone else
They had to see it too
It was all over the TV and then the internet
It was written in the malleable stone of every stranger’s face
It was hidden in the plain sight of every speech
Every lesson
Every advertising slogan
It was here
It was us
It was not getting better
Or, if it was, it was not getting better soon enough that I would hear in my life
The simple truth
We need to forgive and to be forgiven
Words & Music by Mike Power 