How to Lose
Sometimes there's no good option, only shades of grey, and picking the least-bad one isn't a failure of will. This is me learning to lose small, on purpose, so I don't lose everything.
I've run the numbers forward, I have run them back in time
Analyzed the wreckage for the reason or the rhyme
I've checked the stress tolerances, the metal and the bone
The thousand tiny fractures in this engine I have known
I've calculated every path, each variable and cost
And quantified the total weight of everything I've lost
The data's in, the model's built, the final truth is stark
A single, tiny candle in an overwhelming dark
And sometimes it's too late, the damage has been done
The race you thought you had to win was never yours to run
Sometimes the choices aren't between the darkness and the light
But just between the shades of grey you choose to end the night
It's not a failure, not a sin, it's not a lack of will
It's just the physics of a heart that cannot climb the hill
So you stand upon the precipice, you look into the void
And you just have to choose the way your world will be destroyed
You can rage against the dying, you can bargain, you can plead
You can plant a final garden with a single, hopeful seed
You can polish up the armor, you can sharpen up the sword
And stand your ground against the final, inescapable Warlord
But the engine's running out of fuel, the hull is breached and cold
And the story that you thought you'd write will never be unrolled
The time for building bridges, yeah, that time has come and gone
There is no other side to reach before the coming dawn
And sometimes it's too late, the damage has been done
The race you thought you had to win was never yours to run
Sometimes the choices aren't between the darkness and the light
But just between the shades of grey you choose to end the night
It's not a failure, not a sin, it's not a lack of will
It's just the physics of a heart that cannot climb the hill
So you stand upon the precipice, you look into the void
And you just have to choose the way your world will be destroyed
Do you fall upon your own sword, an honorable release?
Or do you let the slow decay just grind you piece by piece?
Do you burn it all behind you in a final, glorious blaze?
Or just walk into the silence of these last and lonely days?
There is no "right," there is no "win," there's only what you do
When you have finally understood the truth is seeing through...
And sometimes it's too late, the damage has been done
The race you thought you had to win was never yours to run
Sometimes the choices aren't between the darkness and the light
But just between the shades of grey you choose to end the night
It's not a failure, not a sin, it's not a lack of will
It's just the physics of a heart that cannot climb the hill
So you stand upon the precipice, you look into the void
And you just have to choose the way your world will be destroyed
You just... choose how to lose.