Sage Francis - Thank You lyrics

You gave me language as a gift
I turned it against you
I was stupid, I was young
I was hanged by my Judas tongue
You shouldn’t give weapons to kids
That don’t know better
They can't possibly understand that there’s
No such thing as forever
For every letter in the alphabet
You said connect ‘em to a happy word
No matter how bad things get
I did my best, but the pickings got slim
Once I arrived at "X" and I
Had to think of synonyms
Weighed ‘em against the antonyms
I was hanging with all the mannequins
Who are on a constant search
For a person’s amputated limbs
Almost offered up my own
Trading in my arms and legs you said
"Learn to express yourself if you’re
Gonna stand for things"
I stood up without expression
Stood up against everything including you
I was stupid, I was adolescent
But I had your lessons to cling on to
And I want you to know how much it helped
Considering everything that I’d gone through
There was a period without periods
Run on sentences were like binges
I was a comma with no pause
A rebel with no clause
Anxiety is no excuse once there’s
Nothing left to separate
We could have connected, but didn’t
I was ignorant, passed out on the spacebar
The further we drifted apart the closer
I came to realizing just how amazing you are
Now that you’re gone I'mma say
It to the stars
‘Til my words knock worlds off their
Axis and the universe collapses

Thank you for the matches
For the gift of fire
For the wood and the axe, for whooping my ass
For the wheel even if you didn’t invent it
For the impact that you had on me, it’s epic
Thank you for the effort
For teaching me the ABC’s even if I
Never make my way to "Z"
Even if I never do for someone else
Exactly what you did for me thank you

I was a stupid son of a
Gun with initials carved into me
I was a stray, a runaway
Afraid someday you’d shoot me
So I scratched off the letters
With a pocket knife
That’s how I loss my way when
I was tossed into the fray
This is not my life, who am I kidding
This is a thank you note
Disguised as a written apology for
Everything you taught to me
So awkwardly I approach the open microphone
With everything that I wrote
Clear my throat, adjust the collar on my coat
As I rock crowds
Microphones and boats and then I stroke
Whatever little ego I have left
I should have left it at the alter
But I didn’t cause I’m an idiot
Self-deprecating author
With a paperback edition that isn’t
Worth a flip through if I don’t give you the
Credit that you deserve
You edited the words from
The grave and beyond
From the first sign of sun rays at dawn
'Til the moonbeams set blaze to my lawn
The universe collapses on my front steps
So we get to share in that moment
For just one moment
And nobody’s upset, there’s no more anger
There’s no more sunsets
So I crawl back in the chamber
You can shoot me up you might as well
We had great communication before
The tower fell

I'mma do my best, while you rest in peace