"Sleep Patterns" lyrics

September 9, 2001
Gary and I were skating at a hospital on top of a huge hill overlooking a valley
An ambulance came and took out a dead woman
Gary asked me why she wasn't moving or blinking
They hadn't closed her eyes yet
She must have died on the way, a car full of family and friends came in with the ambulance
They were all crying and hugging each other
One woman screamed hysterically and grabbed at the woman's body, asking her to wake up
I had to tell Gary that her soul went to Heaven
I didn't believe a word of it, but I knew it'd be easier for him to understand
Two days from now, at 9 AM, two planes will hit the World Trade Center, killing over 3,000 people
I will tell Gary that there is no God, and all of this is meaningless
But today, there is a God, and he has a plan for him
He doesn't know it, but a year from now, our family will be torn apart
And I will move far away and won't see or talk to him for five years
And as we sit on the hood of our car, the sun goes down and he asks me what I want out of my life
I tell him I don't know

On and on we run away
From the things we are afraid of
On and on we run away
From the things we are afraid of
On and on we run away
From the things we are afraid

I don't tell him about the dream I had the night before
Where I'm riding in a car full of strangers and singing to some song I've never heard
And smoking a cigarette and we swerve off the road and hit a tree
I go through the windshield and hit the edge of a fence, dislocating my jaw and flipping me into a wall
Where my neck is broken, and my skull is fractured, I bleed to death in excruciating pain
I will have this dream periodically until I meet all of the strangers one by one
Introducing them all to each other until we are a close group of friends
I will set these events in motion, and I will die
But today in the warm light of the sunset, I don't see it
I just see the sunset, I smile back and shake my head
I have absolutely no idea, I am afraid