break the surface

Midnight oil is burning low

Every single formula lined up in a row

Memorized the pages, kept his head down tight Tracing every sentence in

the fading yellow light But the paper had a question that he

couldn't quite recall

And the building blocks he memorized began to fall

He stared at the red ink,

feeling so betrayed By the thousands of hours and the plans he

had made But the teacher said softly,

looking at his eyes

Working hard is not the same as being wise

Stop memorizing the answers,

start asking why Look past the surface,

reach for the sky

It's not about the lines you repeat in the dark It's the

fire of understanding that leaves a spark (leaves a spark) So he

closed all the textbooks he used to just trace And he looked

at the concepts and looked at the space

He spoke it aloud to an empty white wall He taught his

classmates and stood proud and tall

He made some mistakes and he figured out how To see the

connection from then until now

Stop memorizing the answers,

start asking why Look past the surface,

reach for the sky

It's not about the lines you repeat in the dark

It's the fire of understanding that leaves a spark (leaves a spark)

One year has faded,

the seasons have turned No longer afraid of the lessons he learned

He sits at the desk,

takes a breath and begins It's not about winning,

it's deep from within

Stop memorizing the answers,

start asking why Look past the surface,

reach for the sky

It's not about the lines you repeat in the dark

It's the fire of understanding that leaves a spark (leaves a spark)

He walks down the steps to the cold afternoon No panic this

time, no fear of the gloom He gave it his all,

not a single regret 'Cause he finally learned how to learn

(how to learn)