Thank you Mom, thank you pop You raised me to be strong, you taught me to be kind Thank you Aunty, thank you Uncle You encouraged a young boy’s inquisitive mind And thank you no one, for from you I learned the rest For when it’s only you, you’re put to a grueling test Left alone I realized that God was not for me But that I longed for a people, my own community. In a space so dominated by what you all thought, I wasn’t supposed to be. A small boy full of fun and creativity A young man full of angst and anxiety A creature who just longs to be free So thank you school, you told me I could be anything It’s a shame you lied to me I achieved by myself, a personality Incomplete but full of joy that was slowly robbed from me An adult with only ideas of what he should even be No concrete facts just examples and advice “Get a solid job, then everything will work out” Well isn’t that nice… So to cope I found a vice A bottle then a pipe I rolled the dice And still, I could use some advice So thank no one For the nothing that I’ve figured out in life