Lyrics Shroud - Ani DiFranco

I had to leave the house of fashion
Go forth naked from its doors
Cuz women should be allies
Not competitors
And i had to leave the house of god
Cuz the cross repleased the wheel
And the goddesses were out in the garden
With the plants that nourish and heal

I had to leave the house of privilege
Spend christmas homeless and feeling bad
To learn that privilege is a headache
That you don't know that you don't have
And i had to leave the house of television
To start noticing the clouds
It's amazing the stuff you see
When you finally shed that shroud

I had to leave the house of conformity
In order to make art
I had to be more or less true
To learn to tell the two apart
And i had to leave the house of fear
Just about as soon as i could crawl
Ignore my face on the wanted posters
Stuck to the post office wall

I had to leave the house of self-importance
To doodle my first tattoo
Realize a tattoo is no more permanent
That i am, and who
Ever said that life is suffering
I think they had their finger on the pulse of joy
Ain't the power of transcendence
The greatest one we can employ