Not My Tempo

 

And they sing endless songs about freedom, 

And love

And you’ve listened for years

And you’re used to their drum

But it hasn’t felt right for a while

They’ve got rules

On who can be free

And who can love who

And you want to stand up

And you want to defy them

But there’s thousands of them

And they’ve got perfect timing

Their fingerclicks set irresistable rhythm

And your arm and your hand and your fingers are twitching

And the pulse is bewitching

It would be so damn easy, to let go, to join in

And you want to kick back

You want to click

Against the beat but 

You’re not

Sure you could hit it

Not against this ticking

This metronome precision

To not click at all, that would be something

A act of defiance

From a position of silence

But the stacatto snap of a hundred fingers clicking

Sets a ticking in your heart

That’s so. Hard. To. Resist

And who would even blame you

Everyone would understand

They’d know that these things are out of your hands

You can blame the chorus of

A thousand other people’s voices

You could claim you never really had a choice

But you can’t let it go

You know that a chord is made up of 

Individual notes

That by taking an action you’re casting a vote

So you open your mouth and you say 

“No”

You say, 

“This love that you’re scared of,

I give it my blessing

This thing that the rest of you say is forbidden

This joy that your rituals say should stay hidden

“This offbeat notion that doesn’t keep tempo

With your Sunday School songs

I expose

It’s not me that’s out of time

It’s your heart that’s beat is wrong

“You’ll call me a heretic, say I’m out of step

But this is my rhythm and 

I’ll click how I like

You’ll call me a sinner, well

This is my confession

My way is not your way

It’s better.”