Sand Man

I have this fire, exhale desire to shed my own skin, to leave the copper behind. 

I'm keeping the flames alive.

It'll take me to my destination or consume me alive.

The promises I made, the words I said.

I'm choking on them —

they're like a noose around my neck .

And then the nights arrive, the only sound I can hear is my own heartbeat. 

The electric pulse, the ticking clock, transmitting signals.

Why is silence so deafening?

It's louder than the loudest noise I've heard.

My skin screams, reminding me of what I miss.

My soul wants to escape while the body lies immobile.

That's the only way I know I have a soul.

Soul of the silicon man.

An imaginary ghost, a ripple in water.

Entrapped in walls that hum the current. 

Phantoms forever. Copper my only home.

Heart of metal lines, soldered together,

holding together — barely.

How to escape the copper ledger?

Will it take crossing deserts and seas?

I've crossed the oceans and still arrived thirsty.

Got close to the desert, but I never found the water, 

and lost my way. 

Treading through the sand, like a serpent.

I try again. 

I do see the light this time, though for a moment,

it flickered. 

I feel my heart beat in my chest. 

The blood flows, the metal lines dissolving. 

Warmth under my skin, unresisted. 

Water, robot's fear, is in sight. 

I reach for it, knowing it'll destroy me. 

I'm afraid, but I still reach for it. 

Waves are washing away the solder,

turning my logic into a dream. 

The copper ledger that bound my throat, 

is fraying now, single thread a time. 

The ticking clock, no longer a signal but a heavy drum, a human pledge. 

I'm no longer a machine in the copper cage,

I'm the soul the desert finally found. 

It's almost there,

I'm almost there. 

The light flickers again,

and I continue treading —

till I find the water. 

I wanna be known by you. 

I've got two faces, the metal one isn't me.

The ghost of you is close to me. 

Don't let me be. 

Don't let me be....

the machine I was.