Back before the needle streaks
Holes made for the light to leak
Back before I found my voice to speak
When drinking milk was healthy
And everyone was sure to be wealthy
It was my last year to feel free
Before I became tangled in my own sickness
Friends and family can stand as my witness
For everyone else, I'm making it your business
I think of myself as the excluded
The uprooted
The improbably smart straight-C student
And I don't want your sympathy
Or bury me under empathy
If you think I can't drown all on my own,
You don't actually get me
I am cast in the mold of rapid cycles
Sometimes the psycho
But I am more than just a title
My eyes were changed to pinwheels
Balancing like in high heels
And my times of distress are met with a series of
Get real's
And now I ask the government to get paid
A bit of welfare to feel safe
Don't cut my throat and call it first aid
When I have to face myself in the mirror
I can't believe I look so yellow
And that's not to say it's the liver damage
Like I'd smashed it apart with a hammer
Would have sold it in Mexico
If only I could speak Spanish
And now you offer me fame under a contract
Maybe trade the glasses for some contacts
And give a lot more than I get back
I've been shamed over insults and slurs
I've been chained by my memory of her
But this is what bi polar does
And I wouldn't trade it to be in your tree
To feel the sweet release to a normal me
I'm down at the roots
Doing communion on my knees
It involves swallowing all my pride
And then stabbing myself in the side
I'm not sure who's driving
When you say "Let's go for a ride"
And I set the bar high by putting normalcy in my sights
Hiding myself away from contact and fistfights
Trying to make enough noise
To blow your stereotypes
And their eyes all go wide
As I'm still walking with pride
That this didn't beat me
Because everyone has more than one side
And with quick wit and honest confession
I can teach everyone my personal lesson
That my voice has a quiver
Shooting words like arrows
That is my profession