[Intro] Clock in the hallway chewing the dark Clipboard with my name, nobody in the park They call it a birthday I call it a mark [Pre-Chorus] One light, two light, porch going black Friends in a sequence, never coming back I wave at the windshields, they don’t wave back Mileage on a body that won’t stay on track [Verse 1] Fluorescent fly trapped in a jar full of hum Plastic-chair gospel, I know where I’ve come Nurse calls it progress, the cotton calls dumb I smile with the teeth, I negotiate numb Monday they stitch me, Tuesday they score Wednesday the circle, Thursday the floor Friday a chip and a lie at the door Saturday back on the corner I swore Was a grave I had quit — fuck it, the corner keeps score Knows my ankles better than the people next door Cycle don’t sprint, it just shoulders the frame Till the hinges remember my fucking name [Pre-Chorus] One light, two light, porch going black Friends in a sequence, never coming back I wave at the windshields, they don’t wave back Mileage on a body that won’t stay on track [Chorus] Age out — gauze diploma, everybody clap Then the lights cut and they take the map Eighteen candles, one bus pass, no way back You don’t get better, you age the fuck out Age out! Age out! Clock punches you, you don’t punch out Same scar, new chart, same fucking route You don’t get free — you just age out [Verse 2] Dee left in April with the rain on her sleeve Marcus in August, a wreath and a leave I set two plates like the quiet might eat Then I ate the quiet just to feel my teeth Rehab sang my birthday better than my kin Off-key clipboard, fluorescent grin Thirty days holy, day thirty-one sin They graduate the folder while I’m still in Cast comes off and the story don’t Bone knits crooked where the hallway won’t Ceiling does the math I refuse to do Counts down the block like it’s hunting for two I spit at the number, I stay in the room Tired as a saint, mean as the bruise [Pre-Chorus] One light, two light, porch going black Friends in a sequence, never coming back I wave at the windshields, they don’t wave back Mileage on a body that won’t stay on track [Chorus] Age out — gauze diploma, everybody clap Then the lights cut and they take the map Eighteen candles, one bus pass, no way back You don’t get better, you age the fuck out Age out! Age out! Clock punches you, you don’t punch out Same scar, new chart, same fucking route You don’t get free — you just age out [Bridge] They said grow up like growing up was a door I grew up and the door grew boards Abuse in the drywall, injury in the floor Rehab in the pamphlet, pain in the core Milk on the stoop with the cap still on Sour in the carton, funding gone Clipboard valedictorian, class of one Same museum, same rope, same tour, not done I am so fucking tired of the spin But I count the living — the living run thin I won’t feed the number, I won’t be the grin On a discharge form while the bruise clocks in [Breakdown] Age out Clock out Not out Still here One by one Not me Not yet Still here Fuck your clean ending Fuck your clean ending I am still here [Final Chorus] Age out — they want the ending clean I keep the mess where the mess can be seen Friends in the rafters, friends in the steam I sing their names through my fucking teeth Age out — if the system clocks me gone I clock back in with a busted song Not healed, not holy, not moving on Just mean enough to stand till the standing’s done Age out! Age out! You can close the file, you can’t close the mouth Same scar, new chart, I still fucking shout I don’t get free — I just won’t age out
