Palm trees lean like broken crosses Billboards shine in the December haze Convertible ghosts on the freeway No one here remembers your name She’s got powder on a glass table Keys and credit cards, shaking hands We stay up till the sun looks sick And call it a plan Everyone’s afraid to merge So we speed up, never turn Pretend we feel something As the hillsides slowly burn Everyone’s afraid to merge Into someone they might know So we keep our bodies close And leave our hearts alone Downtown snakes in designer jackets Eyes like empty TV screens Brag about who they bought or slept with As if that means anything Lines laid out like dotted highways Disappear straight into the night We chase something we can’t name And block out the light Everyone’s afraid to merge So we speed up, never turn Pretend we feel something As the hillsides slowly burn Everyone’s afraid to merge Into someone they might know So we trade our souls for silence And call this place our home They pass around that cursed cassette Laugh in the flicker while someone cries I stare at the carpet pattern Try not to have a mind Out here they can be so charming They kiss you while they count the cost Already changing stations Barely hearing all we lost Everyone’s afraid to merge So we speed up, never turn Pretend we feel something As the hillsides slowly burn Everyone’s afraid to merge Into someone they might know So we trade our souls for silence And call this place our home Her head on my shoulder, eyes on nothing Static snow on the bedroom screen I whisper, “I don’t feel right” She says, “You’ll get used to it” You’ll get used to it
