At Safe Distance

At safe distance we watch it all transpire
Moving through existence on steel belted tires
Keep the doors all locked tight and tramp down your complaints
Keep some fog in your dialog to temper your disdain

Despite resistance our heroes get torn down
They cry out with persistence as they're escorted out of town
And moved on to some distant sphere and left out all alone
To await some apology in the redemption zone

Everything gets complicated when you come back home
Buried truths get excavated by eyes now grown
Black and white is now shades of gray and you feel so alone
You wrap yourself in a cloak of mystery and your face is only shown
At safe distance

At safe distance staring down the past
An up close examination of something bold and vast
Bad and good and the ties of blood and the facts of where they stood
Facts displayed like a flag that waves goodbye

Some say nothing good can come from examining too close
Stare too long at the stone facade and the cracks will show
Your father's eyes are now cold and tired his face so deeply lined
All the gold's been pulled out of the mine

His warm embrace has a darker hue as the end comes into view
What once was pure through your childish eyes
Is complicated by the truth
What once was pure as a shot so sure has you longing for a time
When you could stand judging right and wrong
Through tight drawn blinds
At safe distance