I want to start over but from where I am now
I may be old but my mind knows how
To listen to the knowledge of the street
And not college where the frat boys meet
Inventing the art form of a young man’s life
Trying to find himself before he finds a wife
Not playing all the people like they’re a game
Making their heart remember your name
Not because they made love with you
Or what you dropped inside just came due
It’s more like this where a girl walks away
Thinking what the **** did he just say
That was like watching a movie or a play
But it was in my bed and he knew what to say
He told me the way but first I had to weep
No way somebody’s spoon could dig that deep
It had to be with my hands my mouth my feet
Nothing left for me except a mind ready to eat
Ancient texts about suffering causing my desire
Or reading stories written by a winner and liar
How pretty can I be if the world is still on fire
Nobody gives a **** except that boy I inspired
The one who won’t call me love but still wants more
How can I tell until I give it all away like I did before
Well maybe I should just not make myself a temple
Instead I’m a sidewalk where a memory is a riddle
You walk on me and there I lay white naked cracked
But now I know you and the manhood you lacked
Yes it's the way to be, unlike a ****** drinking tea
The more my body takes the more my mind can see
Because nothing’s sacred besides what I think of me
And the truth of the world is not so shocking or free
I wish you hadn’t started over like I thought you doing
But what I must ask is who is listening and who is drawing
Shapes on the sidewalk where blood was finally spilled
And the sermon given by a **** whose mother was killed
I haven’t confused the parked cars yet with my directions
And the ***** I made was the least my own affections
The movie had an intermission asking what year it was
The lobby was wearing a facemask that only said because
It’s the rebellion of the common man after quitting time
Nobody can tell who they are but still they wait in line
Did you go my girl to the grave of an unknown soldier
Do you know what it is that makes him your keeper
He died didn’t he and the headstone said he was brave
It’s act two scene three of the conversation with a grave
You’re not feeling so pretty now because he can’t see
It’s up to you now to think of something to say or be
That’s what I wanted you find inside the history of man
The terrible tale that a spider and a planet understand
But let’s not fret about that we can’t change the past
Maybe we should start instead with what we thought last
Did it make sense did it mean anything did it feel good
It was the flame you ignore though you piled on the wood
It’s not really suicide as much as it is ripping out the wires
And walking with candles for eyes and years for hours
It’s living without giving a moment or a life away
What’s real is everything you do and everything say
Do you really think you’re evolved because you laugh
Was it your own wit or something you read in the bath?
Don’t be so shallow that the pool you drained is on me now
I can’t take it any more I can’t take it though I know how
Let me start again let me start again let me start again
Then you can listen in yes then you can listen in
Because what I’m ready to say is what you just heard
But you can’t remember because it’s not actually occurred
Has it my friend, a dream hasn’t actually been your story
It’s only what you wanted to live but all you can be is sorry
Just like me the courage to be was only the fear to be
But the genius inside of you is also the genius inside of me
And wherever whenever I leave you I will draw a line
We were here because the sidewalk witnessed our crime