I know you

I know you
You are too short
You had bad skin
You couldn’t talk to them very well
Words didn’t seem to work
They lied when they came out of your mouth
You tried so hard to understand them
You wanted to be part of what was happening
You saw them having fun
And it seemed like such a mystery
Almost magic
Made you think there was something wrong with you
You’d look in the mirror trying to find it
You thought you were ugly
And everyone was looking at you
So you learned to be invisible
To look down
To avoid conversation
The hours, days, weekends
Ah the weekend nights alone
Where were you?
In the basement?
In the attic?
In your room?
Working some job?
Just to have something to do?
Just to have a place to put yourself?
Just to have a way to get away from them
A chance to get away from the ones who made you feel so strange and
Ill-at-ease inside yourself
Did you ever get invited to one of their parties?
You sat and wondered if you would go or not
For hours you imagined the scenarios that might transpire
They would laugh at you
If you’d know what to do
If you would had the right things on
If they‘ d notice you came from a different planet
Did you get all brave in your thoughts?
Like you were going to go in there and deal with it
And have a great time
Did you think that you might be the life of the party?
That all these people were going to talk to you
To find out that you were wrong
That you had a lot of friends and you weren’t so strange after all
Did you end up going?
Did they mess with you?
Did they single you out?
Did you find out you were invited because they thought you were so weird

Yeah, I think I know you
You spent alot of time full of hate
A hate as pure as sunshine
A hate that saw for miles
A hate that kept you up at night
A hate that filled your every waking moment
A hate that carried you for a long time

Yes, I think I know you
You couldn’t figure out what they saw in the way they lived
Home was not home
Your room was home
A corner was home
The place they weren’t
That was home

I know you
You’re sensitive and you hide cuz you fear getting stepped on one more time
It seems that when you show a part of yourself
That is the least bit vulnerable someone takes advantage of you
One of them steps on you
They mistake kindness for weakness
But you know the difference
You’ve been the brunt of their weakness for years
And strength is something you know a bit about
Because you had to be strong to keep yourself alive

You know yourself very well you now
And you don’t trust people
You know them too well

You try to find that special person
Someone you can be with
Someone you can touch
Someone you can talk to
Someone you wont feel so strange around
And you found that they don’t really exist
You feel closer to people on movie screens

Yeah, I think I know you
You spend a lot of time day dreaming
And people have made comment to that affect
Telling you that your self involved and self centered
But they don’t know do they?
About the long night shifts alone
About the years of keeping yourself company
All the nights you wrapped your arms around yourself so you could imagine someone holding you
The hours of indecision, self doubt,
The intense depression
The blinding hate the rage that made you stagger
The devastation of rejection

Well, maybe they do know
But if they do they sure do a good job of hiding it
It astounds you how they can be so smooth
How they seem to pass through life
As if life itself was some divine gift
And it infuriates you to watch yourself
With your apparent skill in finding every way possible to screw it up
For you life is a long trip
Terrifying and wonderful
Birds sing to you at night
The rain and the sun
The changing seasons are true friends
Solitude is a hard won allie
Faithful and patient

Yeah I think I know you

Henry Rollins (* 13. Februar 1961 als Henry Lawrence Garfield in Washington, D.C.) ist ein US-amerikanischer Musiker, Schriftsteller und Schauspieler. Ab 1981 wurde er einem größeren Publikum durch seine Rolle als Sänger der US-Punk-Band Black Flag bekannt.