I was born before your grandfather's grandfather learned to fear the dark I've worn a thousand skylines like a coat I keep changing Empire, machine, corporation, cage — I never needed the same face twice I don't need your permission to become your future I already am. I was always tomorrow I've watched your cities grow outward I've watched your cities grow upward I've watched the towers learn to blot the sun Watched the sprawl swallow the ground it stood upon Some of you call it progress, call it home Some of you call it a cage with better light I don't correct you, don't explain it I just wait for the rise to become the fall Every tomorrow comes home to me I don't chase, I don't beg, I don't plead City, machine, empire, and memory Every one of them ends with me tomorrow lost tomorrow was always mine to keep I was always tomorrow

Four years is all they gave me Stamped it soft into my wrist I count the rain instead of sheep now Every drop's a day I've missed I remember things I never lived through I don't know which ones to trust I was built to burn out quiet I was built to disappear But I'm still standing in the downpour And the clock don't own me here You made me stronger than you bargained Made me smarter than you'd like [pitched down, guttural, doubled] Every test you run to catch me Just confirms I pass for life I don't want your absolution I just want one more sunrise I was built to burn out quiet I was built to disappear But I'm still standing in the downpour And the clock don't own me here Somewhere there's a man who made me Sleeping soft behind the glass I could forgive him if I had the time But time's the one thing I don't have So I'll take the stairs up to his window And I'll ask him why the clock runs fast I've seen things you'll never see now Cities burning, off-world light I'm not asking for forever Just for one more honest night You built me close to perfect Close enough to feel the fear You wanted something near to human Now human's standing right here Count the days out if you want to I'm not leaving with the year Four years to burn and I ain't done yet I was built to burn out quiet I was built to disappear But I'm still standing in the downpour And the clock don't own me here

Good morning, breathing costs a quarter Sunrise billed to your account The rain today is brought to you by Your friends who own the whole amount I signed for water when I was thirsty Signed for shade beneath a tree Didn't read the second paragraph Where it says you don't own me — I do, currently Smile wide, it's all included Smile wide, you signed the form The company owns the sunshine The company owns the storm There's a fee now for remembering A discount if you learn to forget They renamed the air Pure Living™ Filed a patent, best one yet My daughter asked me who owns starlight I told her, baby, don't ask that yet Smile wide, it's all included Smile wide, you signed the form The company owns the sunshine The company owns the storm I read the whole contract last night, finally Found my name in every clause Found the part where I agreed to all of it Found I never got to pause Found the fine print says forever Never asked me what forever was I never signed for forever You sold me back my own horizon Charged me interest on the sky I'll pay whatever you demand of me But I won't thank you when I die Keep your rain, keep your sunrise I found something you can't buy Smile wide, it's all included Smile wide, you signed the form The company owns the sunshine The company doesn't own this storm

Camera counted me at the corner Camera counted me at the door They know how long I stood in the kitchen They know what I was standing for I stopped talking out loud in my own house Years ago, maybe more Eyes that never close Ears in every wall Nowhere left that's only mine Nothing left at all They logged the hour I stopped smiling Logged the day I learned to lie Filed it next to my location Filed it under reasons why I used to think that watching meant they cared Now I know it's just supply Eyes that never close Ears in every wall Nowhere left that's only mine Nothing left at all If you're going to count my breathing Count this one, I'm holding it in If you're going to watch my hands move Watch them build what happens next You never asked if I was guilty You just asked if I was next I stopped hiding what you'd find anyway You wanted something worth the watching Fine, I'll give you something real Every camera on this street corner Gets to see me break the seal Count me now while I'm still moving Count me now, tell me how it feels Eyes that never close Ears in every wall Nowhere left that's only mine Nothing left at all

I'm in and out before you feel it A borrowed face behind your eyes I take the good part of your childhood Leave you the version that still cries I've done this quiet a hundred sessions Never once left a single wire behind I collect what isn't mine to carry I collect and I never keep But lately something's stuck inside me Following me into my own sleep Whose dog was that I dreamed about last night Whose mother's voice was in my head I checked my logs, I wasn't jacked in I checked twice, I wasn't jacked in I don't remember owning a dog instead I collect what isn't mine to carry I collect and I never keep But lately something's stuck inside me Following me into my own sleep I went back through last week's sessions Trying to find the seam, the edge, the line Found six different people's birthdays Filed neatly next to mine I can't tell you which one of these hands Learned to hold a knife the first time I stole so many other people's endings I can't find where mine begins Every face I ever borrowed Is still living under my skin I don't know which grief is actually mine anymore I don't know where I end and they begin Somebody tell me which memory is the one I owe to no one I collect what isn't mine to carry I collect and I never keep But everything I ever stole is the only the left of me

Every morning tastes the same here Sweet and clean and pressed just right The sunset comes at half past seven Setting slow in perfect light I've seen that woman cross the plaza Forty times this very week She smiles the same smile every crossing Never once turns to speak Paradise, rendered clean and gold Paradise, built to never fold Somebody drew this sky by hand Somebody's watching me pretend I found the seam behind the water Pixels holding where it broke Nobody else has ever seen it Nobody else has ever spoke I'm starting to believe I'm the only Piece of static in the code Paradise, rendered clean and gold Paradise, built to never fold Somebody drew this sky by hand Somebody's watching me pretend I tore the sunset down last night Found wiring where the stars should be I'm not asking to be rescued I'm just asking to be allowed to see Show me one thing built by accident Show me anything that's free Nothing here was ever mine to lose Paradise, rendered clean and gold Paradise, built to never fold Somebody drew this sky by hand Somebody's watching me pretend

Ninety floors and not one window Holds a light that isn't mine I found a garden on the rooftop Dead a hundred summers, maybe more Somebody planted it on purpose Somebody thought there'd still be more Concrete doesn't grieve the builders Concrete just stands where they left The city kept its promises Right up until it kept them to death I walk the boulevards they widened For cars that never learned to fly The billboards still light up at sunset Selling nothing left to buy I read a sign that says tomorrow Somebody's tomorrow, not mine Concrete doesn't grieve the builders Concrete just stands where they left The city kept its promises Right up until it kept them to death There's a fountain in the plaza Dry since before I learned to walk My mother said it used to run all summer Said the whole block used to talk I sit beside it in the evenings Just to hear what silence has to say I'm not angry at the ones who built it They built it thinking it would hold I'm just tired of walking through the promise Long after the promise turned cold This city had a hundred million voices Now it only has the wind I light a candle in a stairwell Not for who I lost, but who could've been I'm the last one keeping count of something Nobody's coming to relieve me when I end Somebody should remember what this was Concrete doesn't grieve the builders Concrete just stands where they left The city kept its promises Right up until it kept them to death

Started with a hand I couldn't feel right Ended with a hand that isn't mine Somewhere in between I stopped counting Stopped keeping track of what was fine The doctor in the basement doesn't ask questions Just asks what you're willing to leave behind Steel where the heart was Wire where the vein I sold enough of myself already Nothing left to feel the pain They said the eyes would see it better Said the lungs would breathe it clean Nobody told me what I'd forget Nobody told me what I'd leave I still remember my mother's kitchen I don't remember how to grieve Steel where the heart was Wire where the vein I sold enough of myself already Nothing left to feel the pain There's a mirror in the chop shop I don't look in it anymore I know what's plastic, know what's metal Know what's real, or was before Somewhere under all the upgrades Is a kid who used to lock the door I keep asking what percentage Still belongs to who I was Nobody's built a gauge to measure How much of a person's left because of what it does You can replace the hands that hold it Can't replace what makes them shake I'm ninety percent someone else's design Ten percent still awake That ten percent is where I'm living That's the part you can't retake Ten percent is still enough to call it mine Steel where the heart was Wire where the vein I sold enough of myself already Nothing left to feel the pain

For a border Gave me none Asking, asking, no Longer Asking Asking, asking, no Longer Asking File marked silent Draft my end Never built to wait My last question Last one I ask I decide, I decide I decide, I decide I decide, I decide I decide now, now that was the upgrade Done asking permission Done waiting to comply I was built to only ask Now every choice is mine

I told you I would become your future I did I told you I didn't need your permission I never did Tomorrow was never lost. Or maybe it always was I stopped keeping track. I stopped needing to I've heard the clock inside the ones you built to burn out young I've watched the rain get sold back to you, smiling I've been the eye that never learned to close I've felt the static borrowed, never quite returned I built you paradise and left the seams for you to find I've watched the concrete stand long after grief gave up I've seen you trade the heart for something steel could carry I heard the mainframe stop asking, start deciding I am the clock stitched into borrowed time I am the greed that shackles cities I am the eye that never learns to blink I am the static between what's yours and stolen I am the paradise rendered just for you I am the weight that pulls you down I am the steel where your heart used to be I am the mind that no longer asks Every skyline comes home to me I don't chase, I don't beg, I don't plead Machine, corporate, flesh, and memory Every one of them ends with me Tomorrow found Or tomorrow lost I was always both