SINGER SONGWRITER

I’ve been writing this song for some time I wrote the first part of the first verse while stuck in a traffic jam on the interstate on a scorching summer day during during a week of heat advisories. When I came across the partial lyrics the second week of the current FAWM, given the current situation here in the US the rest of the lyrics following “while I sift through the mental crush”, flowed out.

The sun burns a scar Through the exhaust and haze The day melts like tar On these heaving highways

I used to be so certain of the truth Knew all the rules and what’s at stake But I was clueless in my youth Of all the ways a heart can break

Now I’m old enough to be nostalgic But still young enough to dream Someday we’ll see through all the bullshit To the meaning in between Learn that progress isn’t progress If it tears us at the seams

Used to be so certain of the truth Knew all the rules and all the things at stake But I was clueless in my youth Of all the ways a heart can break

I guess there’s no way To slow the bullet pace of time Words rot in my brain Like fruit left on the vine In the blurring of the seasons in the bending of the lines All the deeper reasons get lost or left behind

I’m not as certain as I was in my youth don’t know all the rules and all the things at stake I don’t have a corner on the truth But I’ve learned there’s so many ways a heart can break So many ways to break

© 2026, Matthew West