Have You Tried

you're not too small for this
but you're not even trying
i know you're taking everything way farther than you've known
i know what's taking all this space
i know i know

we were younger then
but i can still read the words across your chest
pouring from your mouth
and ran like rivers down your neck
and spilled on to the floor
but i'm not so sure i can remember that anymore

i can't read the books your father read
but i will write you songs instead
to make up for what they have been saying
because i know you don't need that
i know you don't need that

we were smaller then
but i don't have the blood in your skin
so i don't fit i don't fit in
and when i leave your house
i know you'll call to chase them out
but they'll stay down the hall
so when you sleep it's not for long

i can't feel the way your parents did
but i can make him take back what he's said to you
to make up for when you have been staying at home
when we've been leaving
because i'd rather you'd come with me

buried under ground and you're scratching inside out
and breathing in until you can't keep pushing out