By the time we realized that something was off
It was already late in the day and no one could reach you
We pooled information, picked apart messages
Cross-referenced with satellite imagery
Man we read you like fiction
I held it together couple hours
Till the authorities asked for a physical description and then...
Pull a loose end through the friends of your friends of our friends
Thread this needle through the now
What favors you calling in?
Where is the nearest bridge?
What are the distances?
You can think but don't say any of it aloud
It's hard to do this stuff remote
And stay calm when it's quiet out

I've been laughing off in crowded rooms with anyone
Under a foot of snow a couple hours away
I've been up at beaver lake, lying in a sea of sun
I've been afraid

I did not press questions I do not know how it really went down
Maybe you were headstrong all the way
Maybe they grabbed you a minute or less before you woulda otherwise left the ground
Maybe it took a certain change of frame
Oh it was all there in abstraction
But you had to walk it back after it stared you in the face
Or maybe it was somewhat more mundane
I bet you never had the chance to get that far
It's just a momentary lapse
Drunk in your bedroom, phone long dead and way too sick of yourself to get the door
Maybe we lost our minds for a false alarm
What a waste!
But who has the guts to run those numbers anymore?

I've been laughing off in crowded rooms with anyone
Under a foot of snow a couple hours away
I've been up at beaver lake, yeah, lying in a sea of sun
In the pictures I've been trying to hide my face
Crane my neck to catch a breeze from past the riverbank
On René-Lévesque, out watching the parade
I've been trying to forget I came from anywhere, oh
I've been afraid of you, my friend, I've been afraid

But sometimes!
The light will hit with a particular dread
And it clears me out!
The word is "instead"
The word is "instead"
And I'm just thinking:
If one more well-wisher tells me I look put-together
I'm gonna lose my head
D'you understand what that would mean?
I see these kids with undercuts walking hand in hand
And I feel so goddamn old, man
Completely obsolete
A special case, a cosmic mistake, the one that gets away
And you are passing through the edges,
Passing through the edges of things
No, we are surely are one and the same

Do you think we're poisoned at the root?
Survivor of the hecatomb
Do you think we're poisoned at the root?
Survivor of the hecatomb
It only takes a trick of light, an awful thought, a missed reply, one dumb mistake with someone in the room
And it always could be over soon
Over soon, over soon
Do you think we're poisoned at the root?
Survivor of the hecatomb
Do you think we're poisoned at the root?
Survivor of the hecatomb
It only takes a trick of light, an awful thought, a missed reply, one dumb mistake with someone in the room
And it always could be over soon
Over soon, over soon, over soon
Like hacking off a limb before the rot sets in?

I've been laughing off in crowded rooms with anyone
Under a foot of snow a couple hours away
I've been up at beaver lake, yeah, lying in a sea of sun
In the pictures I've been trying to hide my face
Crane my neck to catch a breeze from past the riverbank
On René-Lévesque, out watching the parade
I've been trying to forget I came from anywhere, oh
I've been afraid