Jagged Glass

The land’s black, the air’s bad, the path’s jagged glass

But I made it, I climbed and fought, left y’all to rot like some trash

Y’all lashin’, hands outstretched, banging, grasping, scratching

Always wanting, taking, dragging, I’d been down there in my past life

Standing in the mass with my hands shaking and my eyes hollow

Mouth open, waiting for the next hit that kept me low

I’d been one of y’all, starving and sucking on the sickness

But I climbed, and you hated that cause y’all are just some bitches

You hated the way I had pulled past you before you could blink

Hated that I had fought hard and left you to sink

Hated that I had snapped the leash off my neck

And let you choke on their own filth so you could be upset

Hated that I had left you and them behind

But what the hell was I supposed to do with my time

Stay rotting in that pile, hands out, waiting for my next fix

You said you were gonna climb but you lied like a bitch

You swore you’d break free, but you stayed down there

You said you could stop, you said it wasn’t real so you weren’t scared

You said you were strong, you were wrong, I watched you below, as

A lost thing, moaning, swaying, arms out, mouth open

Waiting for the next wave to crash over you, it could’ve been me

I could’ve been down there, choking and rotting

I could’ve let myself be taken, could’ve followed you and given in

But I climbed, and I ain’t going back ever again

Fog rolling thick and low, swallowing the ground

Voices calling, clawing at my ribs, trying to pull me back down

But you can scream, you can cry, you can curse my name

But you can’t have me, not now, not ever, I cast that bridge into flames

The sun’s been swallowed by the filth below, I’m standing on the roof

Of the Willis Tower, looking down at the wreckage of the avenue

Where the bodies crawlin’ like maggots over the bones of a city

That should’ve burned years ago, but I escaped, I dragged myself out

I had climbed, but they never let go, they still called when I was around

The hollow eyed fiends clawing at the pavement

Rattling the empty subway tunnels, like go away pricks

You’re still down there, swaying in front of the ruins of a Walgreens

Where we used to slip through the back door with crumpled money

Where you used to tell me it wasn’t bad, that it wouldn’t be lasting

That it’s just a rough patch, and that I’m overreacting

And now you’re just another corpse with a heartbeat

I’m feeling the craving rise up in me, like an old enemy

Whispering through my bloodstream, the sickness never leaves

It just waits, watches, bides its time, just one more, you can come back

You were never better than us, now the city’s slithering with the damned

Half-human, half-something else, I see them slumped over in the alleys

Of South Side, nodding off, they lost, I won, they can’t come at me

Reach into my backpack, fingers gripping the cold steel, rip off a corpse

Pull it out, I’d taken it off a dead guy behind a 7 eleven earlier before

Then I flick the flame and see you staring at me from below

With your vacant eyes, your arms are limp and your body’s about to fold

Telling me that I’ll be back, and I tell you not in this lifetime

I let go, and the city burns from daytime to nighttime