There's only so much a man can take
There's only so much bullying, so much shoving
There's only so much faking and denying
There's only so much swallowing and deflecting

For every man that is 'spinning plates',
There's is a boy being stepped on.
For every man that is buttering up,
There is a boy that is being deceived.
For every man that is lying,
There is a boy that is being lied to.

I tell you this so you can
Neatly and promptly
Get your head out of  your ***, as
If you're not cheating and lying,
If you're not faking and denying,
If you're not shoving and bullying,

You are no man at all.

There is underneath my tongue,
underneath the small fold extending from
The floor of the mouth, in between flesh and bone,
a small mass of tissue, which is my tumor.

This mass, of untraceable origin,
does not cause pain, or anguish,
is not evil, is not lethal.
Still it grows
Ever so slightly, it grows
And weighs.

I am reminded of my tumor,
every now and then,
whenever I feel the graying,
whenever I feel the weighing,
every now and then,

Whenever,
I see a strange looking dog with a strange sounding bark,
Whenever,
I see a man miraculously escaping death on the road,
Whenever,
My favorite tune is playing on the radio,
Whenever,
I let out a hearty guffaw,
My tumor grows.

It grows,
It weighs,
It numbs.

Because,
Whenever there's a story to be shared,
Whenever there's a smile to be seen,
Whenever there's a song to be heard,
Whenever you are not there and something goes unsaid,

My tumor holds it in,
And grows.