Idle hands
Guided by the devil’s strong demands
Workshop and playground alike
Seated in my cubicle
I organize a silent strike
Responsibility is like a smile
You wear it when you want to

Or when you have to
Sometimes you have to

So we’re both imprisoned now, I hear
Suffocated and confined inside
Shackled by our fears
Like witnesses with vicious little lies
You can change someone forever
With so little energy

When you have to
And sometimes you have to

But idle hands
Guided by distorted light
Seen through memory’s lenses
Can carve questions out of monsters
And make monsters from yourself
The whim of idle hands
Grasping for the kitchen knife
Gasping for breath
Grabbing at straws
And stabbing repeatedly down
Through the deep, dark meat of confusion

Maybe we could understand more
If forgiveness were involved somehow
For someone like yourself
You’ve bled enough
The bandages are coming off
Although the pain is fresh enough to feel

You can heal
When you have to
When the love outweighs the solitude
This is for real
We all love you
And we’re not about to see you lose it all
If you don’t have to

And you don’t have to