Tornadoes

“Sometimes I feel like I have a tornado inside of me
You have it inside of you, just sometimes it doesn't move
I sort of bloom late, but I know it's still there
It still twitches, I'm still flinching
I'm hiding in the basement, trying to keep my head down
Trying not to get shocked, trying to keep the windows boarded up
Trying to find the words that need a home too
And that home might be you
Well, that storm stays at the front door of my mind
I'm here stranded, somewhere between home and where I live
Waiting for the sun to peek in like a killer
So that I can know the coast is clear
If it comes from the sky and it's bad, it must be God, it must be mad
Like it changed it's mind, like never mind
So I told myself if I quit moving I died
So I started spinning and spinning around

But you you were alive on that day in this town

in this state, and you were younger and not as sure as you are now.
But you were alive in every way.
But we couldn’t say that we’d ever find it again.
So I put a mark on my heart for myself and all my friends.
So we can find it again.
Holding up your families.
Holding up houses.
Holding down jobs, 
and tears.

I hope you never again have to use people and each other like washers,
(tightening the screws)
but you were there for each other.
Didn’t leave.
Didn’t give up.
And there’s a kind of unfortunate peace you have
that no one can take away.
And the pictures prove that you used to live so take more.
And even if you don’t know what love is
try and be all of it.

There are no guarantees.”