Your Shallowness

Were you always this shallow
Or have you perfected your image with time
A transparent compensation for past actions
A transparent bandaid for your past wounds
Your past scars

At what point did you lose your depth
And everything that made you interesting
Everything that gave you appeal
And satisfied your own hunger

At what point did you turn your back on the world
The world that was inside your head

Is everything that counts now notches on your bedpost
Your rank among people you never cared about
Is popularity the eighth virtue or the eighth sin
Have you given that some thought
Did you let it sink in

Have you gone over your priorities just yet
Have you looked back and remembered
Remembered the reason you came here
Remembered why you chose it
Why you fought for it

It's not going to match up with your current ideals
Isn't it sad and sentimental how your values always change
And how still the core of things seems to stay the same
And everything's rooted in the past,
no matter how many branches reach out
Everything can be tied to the day
your childhood and naivety died away

Wouldn't it be great if we could brush it off
like dust from our shoulders
Wouldn't it be great

Let's pretend it's possible to run
Possible to settle down
That the demons never follow you
That you could trick them
Let's pretend

I'll let you take care of the pretending
I'd rather take the harsh truth than live in a lie
And I've come to realize what's important to me
And I don't need to feel included in your secrets
I shouldn't feel like I was the one who was left out
Just because I value what goes beyond the most basic
There's a poet inside of me screaming to get out
What's your place to tell me to quiet down
Have you ever had screams
Tearing at the inside of your mind
You have no right to tell me
I'm anything less
than what you are

And I am nothing less
than what I'm capable to be
I don't expect Your Shallowness to see
I don't expect Your Shallowness to agree
But you can turn the tables a dozen times and still find
You're not venturing like me
You're not venturing like me