Simon Joyner - Oxygen Lyrics

Oxygen


I burned all the love letters I had ever received
And I took the hot ashes and laid them at the cold queen's feet
But she didn't shed a tear at all
She just gave the order to raise a wall
To keep the lovers out and the others in
Then, I was free to leave


Well I thought it was safe to turn around, rest and relax
What with all those familiar faces piled up in the past
But with a trail so scorched and torn and poorly patched
There are holes that pull the precious into a collapse
If you stop to blink


So don't be surprised if your memory dies
And your will simply fades like a marching parade
Dwindling down a dark street
Did your heart skip a beat?
Or did time pass you by
While you were wiping a tear from your eye?


I thought you were going to follow me through these lonesome valleys
But now I'm facing scraping this stone wall all alone
And all the ghosts who once pursued me and routinely abused me
They're no longer enthused enough to do me any wrong
So it goes


I ran across a stranger who said he knew me when
He said, "Last I heard you were in need of some oxygen
So tell me how can you hear the phone to say
There ain't nobody home today
When you're drifting along the bottom of the ocean?"
I said, "I'm afraid we've never met"


He said, "Don't be surprised if your memory dies
And your will simply fades like a marching parade
Dwindling down a dark street
Did your heart skip a beat?
Or did time pass you by while you were wiping the sand from your eye?"