Circuit Breaker

I took a left at regret,

made a right at denial,

Had a pocket full of exits,

couldn't stay for a while.

Every bridge that I burned put a light in the rear,

Every mile that I earned brought the smoke a little near.

Got a head full of headlights,

a heart full of brakes,

A suitcase full of reasons and a road full of mistakes.

I can outrun a rumor,

I can duck an old friend,

But

the voice in the mirror knows the route to the end.

Tried to bury every memory beneath another street,

Heard the dirt start talking with the rhythm of my feet.

Run, run, run—what's behind that door?

Same old silhouette on a different floor.

Fast feet, bad sleep,

headlights blur,

He can leave that town—but he can't leave who he were.

Changed the locks, changed the clocks,

changed the number on my phone,

Changed the people at the table,

still ate dinner with the ghost.

New city, new pity,

new apartment, same floor,

Same midnight conversation with the man I was before.

Put my pride in the passenger seat,

guilt in the trunk,

Told myself I was driving,

but the steering wheel was stuck.

Every shortcut turned a long way,

every long way bent,

Back around the same old block where my last apology went.

I kept running from the thunder,

from the things I never said,

Till the storm was just the sound of all the footsteps in

my head.

Run, run, run—now the road bends back,

Every fresh white line turns to an old tire track.

He outran the witnesses,

the warnings and the rain,

Then pulled into the driveway of the house inside his brain.

I was racing every yesterday,

erasing every trace, But the finish line kept moving with the expression

on my face. Had a hundred different reasons,

had a thousand different names,

Had a talent for escaping,

had no talent taking blame.

So I stopped beneath a streetlight,

let the whole world pass,

Saw the kid I used to be in the reflection of the

glass. Didn't ask him for forgiveness,

didn't promise him a cure,

Just admitted I was frightened of the things I couldn't blur.

Now the road is still a road,

and the night is still the night,

But I'm done confusing movement with the courage to get right.

Run, run, run—then he stood his ground,

For the first time heard the silence underneath the sound.

No more circles, no disguise,

no borrowed alibi, Can't outrun your own reflection—but you can look it

in the eye.

I thought I needed distance.

I needed to turn around.