Illegal Sleep

[Verse 1] They nailed up the curfew sign Said sleep is theft of prime time Now every eyelid needs a permit stamp And every dream costs half your ration lamp Mara wakes with a plastic grin Pays the clinic, lets the cold light in Blue gel in her temple vein Comes back empty, still saying her name My old man forgot my mother’s face Kept her ring in a breadbox case Said, “I know I loved someone once” Then checked the wall for the hour once [Pre-Chorus] We trade our nights for a borrowed dawn Sign the forms and the old years gone If you drift, they call it a crime If you rest, they cut your line [Chorus] Illegal sleep Keep your eyes wide Illegal sleep Hide your mind Illegal sleep Pay to forget Illegal sleep Don’t close yet [Verse 2] Corner kiosk, bright as a wound Selling “refresh” in a sterile room Three thousand credits for a lucid spark Six more for the parts they mark They say, “Productive citizen, smile” While the nurse erases mile by mile First your dog, then your sister’s laugh Then your childhood tucked in a plastic bath My neighbor keeps a paper book Writes the names they made him forsook Every page got a shaking hand Trying to anchor what no one can [Pre-Chorus] We trade our nights for a borrowed dawn Sign the forms and the old years gone If you drift, they call it a crime If you rest, they cut your line [Chorus] Illegal sleep Keep your eyes wide Illegal sleep Hide your mind Illegal sleep Pay to forget Illegal sleep Don’t close yet [Bridge] Last week a kid on block nine fell Just blinked too long, they dragged him from hell Mouth still moving, asking his mom Name turned dust when the light came on So I hoard my shadows under the bed A dead match, a note, a jacket thread Anything small the state can’t chew Anything real to carry me through [Final Chorus] Illegal sleep Keep your eyes wide Illegal sleep Hide your mind Illegal sleep Pay to forget Illegal sleep Don’t close yet Illegal sleep We won’t kneel Illegal sleep What’s true, we keep