Shadow Play...

Wanting the best for the kids, so we lock them behind bars of rules,
While we’re out dividing the world, acting like corporate fools.
We fight our own wars now—no one left to call our bluff,
No teacher in the room to say that enough is enough.
Ban the smoke, pass the glass, let the liquor just pour,
New age ethics, same old roles as before.
Hypocrisy? Nah, just business, networking the class,
Just a VIP ticket from the mud to the glass.

Midnight smoke begins to fade
In the mirrors of the lonely street,
Silent vows that we have made,
Blind to days we’ll never meet.
Ashes of the truths we knew
Drifting through the silver rain...
Youth is passing out of view,
Like a bird that flies in vain.

The system will sell you it all, from the poison to the dream,
They don't want no rebels, just a flock that follows the stream.
We put out the sparks but we fill the cups to the sky—
That’s how we live the lie, that’s how we say goodbye.
(That’s how we live, that’s how we die)

Yeah, we draw the lines.
We set the traps.
Hoping they don’t see the cracks.
Listen...

Midnight smoke begins to fade
In the mirrors of the lonely street,
Silent vows that we have made,
Blind to days we’ll never meet.
Ashes of the truths we knew
Drifting through the silver rain...
Youth is passing out of view,
(All our youth is fading away)
Like a bird that flies in vain.