Shroud Lyrics - Reprieve - Ani Difranco

I had to leave the house of fashion 

Go forth naked from its doors 

'cause women should be allies 

Not competitors 

And I had to leave the house of God 

'cause Cross replaced the wheel 

And the goddesses were out in the garden 

With the plants that nourish and heal 

I had to leave the house of privilege 

Spend Christmas homeless and feeling bad 

To learn that privilege is a headache 

That you don't know, that you don't have 

And I had to leave the house of television 

To start noticing the clouds 

It's amazing the stuff you see 

When you finally shed that shroud 

I had to leave the house of conformity 

In order to make art 

I had to be more or less true 

To learn to tell the two apart 

And I had to leave the house of fear 

Just about as soon as I could crawl 

Ignore my face on the 'Wanted' posters 

Stuck to the post office wall 

I had to leave the house of self-importance 

To doodle my first tattoo 

Realize a tattoo is no more permanent 

Than I am 

And who ever said that life is suffering 

I think they had their finger on the pulse of joy 

Ain't the power of transcendence 

The greatest one we can employ?