when you're not here

the questions:

I wouldn't look forward to anything
if I were you
you ought to know better by now
you keep thinking
"someday soon"
but the man on the radio counters,
"someday never comes"
let's face it
your struggle is peculiar
time is fleeting
so why are you rushing it along
the end is nearer every day
there ought to be some hope in that
we are all finite
does that make you feel alright
the spirit of man is like a bird
his flesh is like a cage
break the cage
and the bird will be free
I've been watching you
for a while now
I don't believe you have the answers
how can you possibly believe
the words coming out of your mouth

the answer:

people cry at funerals
people shake their heads
I just wonder why
we pity the dead
we put their bodies in the ground
I wonder why
we don't look for their spirits in the sky
I don't know why
but that's nothing new
I don't know why
when you're not here
I can feel my body
rise off the ground
spirit and flesh fighting
spirit and flesh hastening
the inevitable
when you're not here
I can feel myself wishing
this broken body would disappear.