Looking out at a solitary tree Standing in a snowy park Everything that lives gets battered Everyday goes dark Love is such a tender thing But not everyone can bear up to a jilt Some get hauled away to the graveyard Wrapped up in gramma's pretty quilt A little boy is screaming in the corner While his mama tries to soothe him on her lap He's dressed up just like his father They're both in matching baseball caps From the cradle poured straight into the mold It's kinda sweet but kinda sad Don't be fooled, there is no separating The good stuff from the bad I'm all twisted up inside Is there something left to learn here in this school Where all my truth and all my fiction Is facing off in a duel The storyline I can read with my own eyes Don't fit the one that I've been carrying around in my head Life is no respecter of persons Even little childrens' hearts get torn to shreds And these waves of inspiration Sure can be few and far between Like a train that just won't leave the station They resist my plans and schemes But I'm not holding back nothin' anymore And I'm done with being afraid of being bled Use me up while I am living, lord Let's not leave nothin' for the dead Use me up while I am living, lord Let's not leave nothin' for the dead