Hold The Mask

Nerves fried—like a wreckin’ ball to my cage,

rib shatter't, this is how it play'd...

panic, grit teeth, dig deep, when it hit, rage...

Be pacin round the room,

same wall, same script, same page,

eyes wide open, still stuck in a faze

Clock ain't move when your head in that vice,

heartbeat louder like the beat kick't alive,

need just an hour where the noise can't persist—

but it don’t quit… nah, it don’t miss...

Chasin' highs off a lie I already told,

same road, same hole, still I let it go my hold,

tell myself just the once...it came with an echo—

and I fall right back where the light ain't ever go... Yo!

Mask on—same face, same angle,

hide the crack, let it all entangle

Fix in my hand, ghost on the floor—

both wear me out, hollowed out

I don’t know where to go nomore;

Mask on—yeah I’m calm, I’m stable,

truth get buried under the fade, yo!

Devil in the dose, mirror on the table—

Half alive—yeah I hate how I’m living it,

trading my soul just to dull what I’m feeling with,

every little dose got a hook and I’m reeling in,

thinking I’m in control—whole time I’m kneeling it

Sick of the cycle, the spiral, the crash,

sick of the deal where I pay in my past,

sick of my ghost holdin' me back,

whisper one more, then it tighten its grasp

Grit my teeth, some'in gone shift,

cuttin' cords I was bound, afflicted by my past,

hands still shake but it grippin' fast,

pain still loud but the silence different

I see it clear now—the trick and the task,

fix it, cut it, but it held up the mask,

My ghost in the mirror, same gasp

and I grasp two sides of me

I been scared to unmask.

Mask on—same face, same angle,

hide the crack, let it all entangle

Fix in my hand, ghost on the floor—

both wear me out, hollowed out

I don’t know where to go nomore;

Mask on—yeah I’m calm, I’m stable,

truth get buried under the fade, yo!

Devil in the dose, mirror on the table—

Cold nights—still out here active,

head all loud but I patented, madness,

Mad as the Hatter:

[EMPHATIC:] “the Raven is LIKE the Writing Desk’—Alice!

(wheee!)”

One text sent—two hits gon—three demons singin’.

Man say be calm—just bill it 'n' dash it,

say I’m bless, then sniff it and stash it,

lungs all tight, but I still stay braggin’,

“ain’t that deep”—when you in the game,

Sink full stare—face don’t match the same,

eyes too wide but I talk real snappy,

two man livin’ inside this batty,

Yeah...one for peace, one for gettin' catty

I know that pull, when he gets real sly, not to pry’,

say “one ikkle taste, won’t make it tragic,”

but I done seen how that road get graphic—

still lace my creps…and the party gets savage.

Mask on—same face, same angle,

hide the crack, let it all entangle

Fix in my hand, ghost on the floor—

both wear me out, hollowed out

I don’t know where to go nomore;

Mask on—yeah I’m calm, I’m stable,

truth get buried under the fade, yo!

Devil in the dose, mirror on the table.