sand castle

This is a challenge:
to all of the talent that i've seen
who passed on a chance to starve for a second
      instead settled for the green
maybe you kept track of the fat cats when they said
how you ever gonna pay rent with paper and pens?
workin for plenty of people with money to burn
while i've been eatin every single penny that i ever earned
but i'm the kinda flower that turns water into words,
the sun into sound; I'm a songbird that burns.

it's a little bit bloody, the cold, crass truth
watch a window hopin' it would open up
and you could dash through.
Forget to mention ya have to crack the glass yourself,
might have to crash;
might have to ask for help.
midnight, hashin plans, sippin india pale,
build an empire out of sand
with a shovel and pale
ever tried to attach a sandcastle to a tree
with just a nail,
a wake of vultures smackin beaks behind your back
cacklin just how bad you're gonna fail?

sometimes your friends will shoot you
with word bullets made of ice.
gotta let them vanish inside you, trust me -
 the grudge ain't worth the price.
not one of us is solid sugar,
so I know the thought has crossed your mind
to be the kinda pirate that kills in the name of cinnamon spice.
monsters will doublecross you
and fool you once, so always look twice -
waltz around false rumors
they lie quick like slick mice

i like it when your eyes get bright
like we spent the night doin lines of cayenne pepper
prepare for flight, sight unseen, blind, we might just
crash this scene together, none better

a grand piano raised me - cover open -
      one day, i sung over it;
hovering hope that the horoscopes were right,
that I'm a bull inside, hidin from sight.