As Long As I Get My Sunset

I smell like ocean

Which isn't bad

I guess, in the grand scheme

The grand scheme of things

As they say

I have sand

All over me

And it tickles

But it's not unpleasant

I'm in a cave

And the water's coming in

And I have no way to get out

So I suppose I should worry

But I just can't

I don't care about what happens

As long as I get my sunset

I can't see the palm trees anymore

I can't see the island

I can't see civilization

But I'll see my sunset

That's the one thing you can't miss

I don't even know

If there's a world out there anymore

I heard explosions

And I woke up in a cave

And I don't remember

How I got here

Or what it is that I wanted

Or why I'm wearing nothing

But an AC/DC t-shirt

From the last tour

And Bermuda shorts

But I'm assuming

Or I have to assume

That I'm a tourist

Or a crazy person

Or both

But I don't care about any of that

As long as I get my sunset

I know that I don't think

I'm much to look at

And it seems silly

To think of something

That shallow

When you're about to die

But I really wish

I could have at least

Lived one day on this earth

As a beautiful person

That must be something

That really must be something

I wish I could have been that sunset

I wish that in the next life

If there's a life to come back to

A world left to live in

I wish to come back as that

As a beautiful thing

That emerges everyday

And gives a little bit of something

To everyone who sees it

That reminds them

They still have time

Unless they don't

Unless they're like me

And even then, they'll go--

At least I got a sunset

I got a lot of sunsets

A lifetime of sunsets

There's a three-piece suit

Right over there, near the cave paintings

And I don't know if it's mine

But I think I'll put it on

And wade into the water

Why wait for it to come to me?

I feel like I've been waiting

Waiting for things my whole life

And maybe this time

I need to go towards something

Instead of waiting for it

To crawl up onto my toes

And slide over me

Be so passive about life

Be so inactive in it

Be so sad about everything

Who says death has to be sad?

Maybe it's sad because we let it crawl onto us

Rather than take it up into our hands

And let it rain down upon us

I'm not talking suicide

But since it's inevitable

Why not fight it

By going right at it

By looking up into it

And seeing if you can breathe it in

And keep breathing

Right up until the end

I'm not scared of death

I'm just afraid of that sunset

I'm afraid it won't come soon enough

The cave paintings are unusual

They show a whole world of happy people

People who have nothing

People who are impressed by fire

People who thought the world

Was made for them to play in

Isn't that fantastic?

They had fire and woolly mammoths

And that was all they needed

And if they needed more

They had sunsets, didn't they?

Maybe the same ones

That I've had all my life

Who knows?

Maybe I wasn't so bad to look at

I can't check now

Because I don't have a mirror

Just the water to look down into

And who knows

How honest

The reflection will be

Or the person

It's reflecting

I once heard a story

About a man

Who could make you look at yourself

And other people

As if it was the first time

You were ever seeing them

Or yourself

I wondered what I'd look like

If I would like what I'd see

If maybe I'd go easier on myself

If it would be bearable

. . . . .

There it is

There's that last one

The last one I'll get

Before the water comes

There's peace

I didn't know I'd get it

I didn't know for sure

But I got it, I did

I got my peace

I said it, and I had it

And now I can go

Now it's okay

I said I'd go happily

And I'm a man of my word

And I got a three-piece suit, too

And I got a cave painting

And I got cool air

And I got a sea breeze

And the smell of the ocean

And warm sand on my skin

And the certainty

That the palm trees

And the island

And the resorts

Are all out there somewhere

That I could get back to them

If I didn't already promise

That all I wanted

Was one last day to end

With me still breathing

And I got it

So how can you not be happy?

Really, how can you not?

When you get exactly

What you wanted

I just kept saying--

I kept saying it

Over and over

As long as I got my sunset

Then everything will be all right

And you know what?

I was right

I was wrong about a lot of things

But this time

I was right