Running with my pals
No thought of going home.
Anything is better than
Being there all alone.
Nobody cares back there
But with friends I’m someone.
We laugh and talk together
Nobody ranks on anyone.

We get a little bit drunk
Or ****** when we can
But mostly we just visit
And look out for the man.
The cops like to hassle us
Because we look like kids.
Not because of what we are
Or from something bad we did.

We sit around empty houses
Where people moved away
And party in growing numbers
Some have guitars to play.
We sing songs we all know
And some original tunes.
But if the weather is good enough
I like to walk under the moon.

The street can be a scary place
Or it can be an amusement park
If you are careful about things
And not afraid of the dark.
And, of course, when I go home
They never notice I was gone.
It won’t be too much longer
And I’ll be permanently moving on.

There are words you say
And they are like magic.
And words that hurt,
The outcome is tragic.
There are words that soothe
And words that calm
And words that hurt worse
Than the slap of a palm.

You wouldn’t think that
Words make you feel better.
After all, they’re just sounds
Just a bunch of letters
Strung together in a way
That convey a simple thought.
Not a woven net in which
Something can get caught.

Yet they can do that, too.
They can be used to lie
And get caught in doing so
In an ugly by and by
Or they can accomplish things
And build up a rapport.
It all depends so much on
What words are used for.

The thing to be aware of
Is verbal sleight-of-hand
Where artists in deception
Make you think you understand
When they really are lying
And making you agree
That what they are doing
Is not the purest larceny.

So, look at words as envoys
Of what other people say;
Watch to see if they mean it
The next day as today.
Gather to you good people
On whose words you can depend
And the dangers of wordplay
Will soon come to a fitting end.

I fear if I start crying
I will not be able to stop.
I know this is the bottom
(But,) I don’t remember the top.
I’m just feeling sorry
For the self I am now.
I want to change for the better
But I don’t really know how.

I looked into my crystal ball
And didn’t see a thing.
No future, only the past
And it was not a good thing
It wasn’t supposed to be like this
When I started on this highway.
It hurts my feeling to know that
It’s because I did things my way.

I’m just feeling sorry
For the self I am now.
I want to change for the better
But I don’t really know how.

I have no one else to blame but me
For the decisions I have made.
If I had to score success so far
I’d give myself a failing grade.
If I could just convince myself
To do something I’d be fine.
But so far all I have managed to do
Is sit around the place and whine.

I fear if I start crying
I will not be able to stop.
I know this is the bottom
(But,) I don’t remember the top.
I’m just feeling sorry
For the self I am now.
I want to change for the better
But I don’t really know how.

This time it’s me, leaving.
Not begging you to stay.
Not sitting alone, grieving.
This time, I’m the one
Who is going away.

I’m not fooling myself
That you even care.
We lost who we were
Along the way somewhere.
It used to be about love
Now it’s just paying rent.
I had a lot of love, but,
I don’t know where it went.

It’s an old love story
I never wanted it to end
But now it’s too hard
To continue to pretend.
I see in your eyes that
You don’t care anymore.
So what is this last bit
Of playacting even for?

This time it’s me, leaving.
Not begging you to stay.
Not sitting alone, grieving.
This time, I’m the one
Who is going away.
This time, I’m the one
Who is going away.

(I’m) talking about
Freedom!
Peace and liberty
A land of
Freedom!
Love and equality
Freedom!
Is what we need to see!

Maya Angelou said it
So, it has to be
The caged bird sings
But it is not free.
Pretending for money
Won’t make it be.
There is no substitute
For being free.

Freedom for you
Freedom for me
Freedom!
For every ethnicity!
Freedom!
For both gay and straight
Freedom!
For all, we can’t wait.

Always there are thieves
Who would steal your rights.
They exist on the left
And they exist on the right.
They get paid to rob you
And never let you be
If you aren’t vigilant
You’re never really free.

Freedom!
Before someone kills it.
Freedom!
Because the country wills it!
Freedom!
Saw The Liberty Bell crack.
Freedom!
It’s yours if you take it back.

Democracy is a concept
And we have to protect it.
Money-making crooks
Will try to make you reject it.
They tell you everything
Will end up just fine
Because freedom cuts in
To their bottom profit line.

(I’m) talking about
Freedom!
Peace and liberty
A land of
Freedom!
Love and equality
Freedom!
Is what we need to see!

I drink wine before water
It’s better than beer.
Neither are like *****
They’re nowhere near.
Like beer, you can
Drink all of it you please.
It will never knock
Your life to its knees.

What? You say no?
You say they are equal?
This is a bad movie
I don’t want a sequel.
I have lived my whole life
Thinking wine is okay
And not contributing to
Alcoholism in any way.

I thought I could drink it
And party like a king
And the specter of addiction
Didn’t mean a thing.
Yes, I admit I ignored
Those drunks and hangovers
That woke me up feeling
I’d been hit by a Range Rover.

So, okay, maybe it’s real
This threat to sobriety
That is so accepted
And approved by society.
But now I have to find
A new way to celebrate
That won’t ruin my life
At some not too distant date.

Pantywaist,
This shows no taste.
Light in the loafers,
Maybe for gofers.
Squats to ***,
Who? Not me!
Limp-wristed,
It it’s twisted, maybe.

***** and sissified,
Maybe somebody lied.
*** and ******,
You’re a bigot.
Bigass Fruit,
Zoot and all root.
Tuttifruity,
Call to gay duty.

Half a man,
Sometimes better than.
Tinkerbell,
Go to hell.
Airy-fairy,
You’re just scary.
******* bandit,
I can’t stand it.
*******,
Bigass *******.

Silly queen,
Quit being mean.
Flutter-by,
Can’t pronounce butterfly?
*****,
Don’t get handsy, mate!
Nancy boy.
Political ploy.

Just some of the words
We gays have all heard
With each imprecation
The implication
Is that we are sick,
Definitely twisted,
And the end result
Is that each insult
Pushes the speaker
Further away, and weakens
The hold on a reality
That homosexuality
Is just another normality.
In short, reality.