Staring Down the Barrel of the Middle Distance R.E.M.

Now the hope for the future took a pounding in the parking lot
And the answer for today is all I got
When your name is called the lights went down
The time is the essence excuse me
And I'm blinking at the vanishing point of what I thought

Staring down the barrel of the middle distance
God knows I've tried
I close my eyes
I close my eyes
I close my eyes

I greet despair to a standard prayer
If you call for the future I don't care
And I turn you round to face me here
There's a compass raised with a familiar tone
With a voice that needles me to the bone

Staring down the barrel of the middle distance
God knows I've tried
I close my eyes
I close my eyes

Whose position shifts cause its been effect
If you can't hit play cause the button sticks
Ignorance is bliss, I can't say
There's a compass raised with familiar tone
With a voice that needles you to the bone
You're left with chaos, static and delay