Sixteen

Lyrics

All the paths you've took to get you here All the ones you didn't take The road they told you rolled up straight to heaven's heavy gate Find Saint Peter at the doorway In a toll booth waiting And I climb the steps behind you in anticipation To see my future from the rooftop of a spiral staircase Barely 20, watched my whole life in a foreign nation And chased that fading dream away I slept for days and days When I woke up in your apartment Could you see it on my face? That I didn't recognize the room That I thought it was some neighbor's place 25, with all my yеars piled I lay between your knees And fell asleep that way for weeks Whеn I woke up on Lunar New Year It was 2023 Rabbits running in the alley Lion dancing in the street And past the teeth on everyone I saw my old self taking shape Hover ghost-like in the flames And in the smoke he slowly dissipated If you could go and take your pictures off the wall Would you do it? Would you take them all... down fast? Try to break Take them all into your arms And throw the errors out? If you wanted to Would you take them all down? (Would you take it all?) (Would you take it all?) Would you make preparations for a funeral Stage it how you wanted to go If you knew that you Would you take them all down Would you change And tell a story how you wanted it told (I wish you wanted more [?]) (I wish you wanted more [?]) Well did you think you'd end up on the pavement Spend drunk in the basement Then sleepwalking up all through the house? Nights on the rooftop With strangers-filled places That sunrise we watch it We're blind A mansion in the Hamptons A quiet suburban street Or highways in Manhattan 20 children that might feed Where would I be if I had never gotten better at all? Where would I be if you decided not to wait up for me? Who would I be? Take the pictures down from off the wall I wanna see it all Remember everything I take the pictures down The dates in our apartment That skylight in the bedroom The blooming winter garden My life in color with you I keep the pictures hanging I'm writing captions out I'm framing every single moment going forward Where would I be if I had never gotten better at all? Where would I be if I had never gotten better at all? What would they say if there's a heaven after everything? What of my life has brought me I keep the pictures hanging (I keep the pictures hanging)