Greytness

I'm looking for something new
I'm grasping at straws
Trying to find something unique
The world around me is unmotivating

I try to mix it up
Write metaphors that make no sense
Like "angry as a condom"
Or "more pungent than love"

I'm seeing my world in black and white
Everything's gray like the old movies I love
Except there's no sense of wonder,
No feeling of breaking new ground

Man tamed nature
Then they tamed reality
But I just sit watching it all from my basement
When is the next breakthrough coming?

The people I know show me their pictures
But all I hear them say is
"I am a mediocre person.
This is my mediocre life."

I want to break these shackles I've built around my ankles in my head
Want to see the sky in shades of blue and red
Not in shades of gray like the ocean staring back
I want greatness, but I have no idea how to find it.

If I could, I would light up this existence like a firecracker
I want to impress everyone I haven't yet met
When I'm truly great I will win your love,
No more mixed signals or sleepless nights

I have nightmares about staying here forever
I hate being reassured that I'll always have a job at Walmart
Things need to get a lot harder
If I'm going to get great.

And all this grayness still permeates my waking reality
But in my dreams I see technicolor brilliance
Bursts of bright orange and explosions of rose red
They're calling out to me, asking for more

You're in the front row, smiling
And I reach out and pull you up onstage
Because you're all I really want.
This greatness is for you.