The Graveyard Near The House
The Airborne Toxic Event Lyrics

The other day when we were walking by the graveyard near the house
As we were walking by the graveyard near the house not too long ago

You asked me if I thought we would ever die
You asked me if I believed that we would pass away someday

And if life and love both fade so predictably
And you questioned if both our existence and affection would fade away in a cliché manner

We've made ourselves a kind of predictable lie
We've created a sort of comforting yet predictable falsehood for ourselves

And so I pictured us like corpses
I imagined us as lifeless bodies

Lying side by side in pieces
Laid next to each other in fragmented shards

In some dark and lonely plot under a bough
Within a dim and isolated location under a tree branch

We looked so silly there all decomposed
We looked absurd in our decomposing state

Half turned to dust in tattered clothes
Half of us reduced to dust while wearing ragged attire

Though we probably look just as silly now
Although we likely appear just as ridiculous now

Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye to all this dog-eared innocence
Farewell, farewell, farewell to this worn-down innocence

I can't pretend that I can tell you what is going to happen next or how to be
I cannot feign certainty about what the future holds for us or how to live

But you have no idea about me
However, you do not truly comprehend who I am

Do you?
Do you really?

And it left me to wonder if people ever know each other
This made me contemplate whether or not individuals ever truly understand one another

Or just stumble around like strangers in the dark
Or if we all just fumble around like strangers in the dark

'Cause sometimes you seem so strange to me, I must seem strange to you
Since at times, you seem foreign to me, while I believe I must appear peculiar to you too

We're like two actors playing our parts
We're akin to two performers playing assigned roles

Did you memorize your lines? 'cause I did
Did you commit your lines to memory? Because I certainly did

Here's the part where I get so mad I tell you I can't forget the past
This is where I explode with fury and express how I am unable to forget our history

You get so quiet now and you seem somehow like a lost and lonely child
You become eerily silent and appear akin to a forlorn, disoriented child

And you just hope that the moment won't last
And you merely hope that this moment will quickly pass

Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye, bye to all this dogged innocence
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye to this unrelenting naivety

I can't pretend that I can tell you what is going to happen next or how to be
I am incapable of pretending to know what is next or how to live

But you have no idea about me
However, you still don't have any genuine comprehension of me

You have no idea about me
You don't know me at all

So there's always a way around
Fortunately, there's always a way to get through

There's something tying our feet to the ground
There's something anchoring us to the soil

A moment passed we hear how it sounds
As soon as a moment passes, we hear how it resonates

Then it seems a little less profound
Afterward, it appears somewhat less profound

Like we're all going the same way down
It's as though we're all headed the same direction

Yeah we're all going the same way down
Yes, we're all descending the same path

I'm just trying to write it all down
I'm attempting to put it all into words

'Cause I write songs and you write letters
It's because I compose music while you pen letters

We are tied like two in tethers
We're connected like two restrained creatures

And we talk and read, and laugh and sleep
We hold conversations, peruse text, chuckle, and slumber together

At night in bed together
During the nighttime in bed next to one another

And you wake in tears sometimes
Oftentimes, you awaken crying

I can see your thoughts flash across your eyes
I observe your ideas passing through your mind

They say darling will you be kind, will you be a good man and stay behind
They implore, 'Darling, will you remain compassionate? Will you prove to be a good companion and stick around?

If I get old?
If I grow old and infirm'

And then the letters all pass through my head
Then, the letters vividly play through my mind

With the words that I was told
Containing the phrases that were spoken to me before

About the fading flesh of life and love
Regarding the vanishing body of life and love

The failures of the bold
The shortcomings of those who err on the side of bravery

I can list each crippling fear like I'm reading from a will
I can outline each incapacitating phobia as though reciting a last testament

And I'll defy everyone and love you still
In spite of what everybody says, I'll carry on loving you no matter what

I will carry you with me up every hill
I'll support you through every uphill struggle

And if you die before I die I'll carve your name out of the sky
And if you die prior to my expiration, I'll inscribe your name in the stars

I'll fall asleep with your memory and dream of where you lie
I'll drift off to sleep remembering you and dream of your final resting place

Maybe better to move on and to let life just carry on and I may be wrong
Perhaps it's better to move on and let life take its course, and I may be mistaken

Still I'll try
Nevertheless, I'll make an effort

'Cause it's better to love, whether you win or lose or die
Because it's superior to have loved, whether or not you come out on top or pass away

It's better to love, whether you win or lose or die
It's more meaningful to have loved, regardless of whether you emerge victorious, fail, or perish

It's better to love, and I will love you 'til I die
It's vastly superior to have loved, and I'll love you until I breathe my last breath