I sat apart, and I poured out my heart,
and they said you don’t speak to your mother that way
So with one final glance, I brushed off my pants,
and that’s why I went away
For the gunmetal storms, for the freedom from form
And the blooming fields of things I’ve never seen
And I’ll lay down and die for the blameless sky
And everything it means
From Talkeetna to Gulf Shores, I flailed at the old doors,
and the kind of people that clogged up my path
Their pathetic adventures of diapers and dentures
Of greed, and envy and wrath
When I find a role for ‘Dark Night of the Soul’,
and all the towers of convention have burned
Wouldn’t it be wild if I had a child
To share all the things I’ve learned
In a faraway land, they lend you a hand
if you’re down on your luck and have no place to go
But you’ll fondle their babies, and give them the scabies
And at best, you’re extremely slow
When I walk past a man, as quick as I can,
check to see if he’s turned ‘round to club me to death
It can’t all be a bust, but if I came from dust
Well, it’s just like I never left
I dismissed the cheers for elephant ears
as we steadily made our way back to the car
And he wanted to know, when we get home
If I could tape up his paper star
When I woke up at dawn, he had his shoes on
What are you in such a big hurry to do?
He said, ‘I’m going to school, and I’ll follow their rules
So I don’t have to be like you
I can’t see, unless you sit, where the vampire bit
And your billowing gut can pull up a chair
You stumble and wheeze,
like I have a disease that you don’t have the strength to bear
You’re a self-made loser, a chronic excuser,
And you don’t look nothin’ like a Disney-show dad’
Well, I’ve seen his eyes when he stifles his cries
And I just hope he isn’t sad
If your dreams are small, if you have none at all
You’ll be laughing like Buddha, but you won’t get the joke
And in my own way,
I get down and pray that it’s not my spirit that’s broke
I can’t say that it’s wrong to just go along
Find something to do on this side of the sea
My voice had cracked, but I knew how to act
Like it’s how I meant it to be
He stood apart, and he poured out his heart
And I said you don’t speak to your mother that way
He mimicked my glance, said ‘you had your chance’
And that was all he wanted to say