One day I gave a dollar to a man on the street
Who held a sign that read simply "help please"
He paid twenty-five cents for water to drink
Then chuckled and gave the change
To a kid passing by who looked bleak.

The child ran to the corner store
And bought two packs of double mint gum
One for himself and one for his chum
But rushed off in such a dash
He left his change with the cashier,
A whole twenty-five cents cash

The cashier used the change to help out a few
A dime for tax on a man passing through
A nickel short each for two ladies buying ice
And nine cents to a man riding past on his bike.
Then I, myself, went to that very store
Only to find I was one penny short
And wouldn't you know all was okay,
The cashier pulled the last cent and said
"Have a nice day."

I don't understand the want
For an absent parent's pride
I'd rather plot and plan with the one whose been at my side.
You can't be proud of trees you didn't grow
While you were off sowing oats
I was sowing stories as a way to cope
"Ryan, understand it's a mutual hate"
I've rerun that line in my mind a couple times
Then realized even your explanations are fake.
In my court, you hold no water
you should do what you do best
And don't bother, I'm proud of me.

All the kids who use to mock me in school
Use the same lame names for every kid
Cheers to Matthew, they called me Harry Potter too
I guess we just stupified them with creativity
Only to see those people grow to be losers for their longevity
While we can turn this water to ***
They still sit stunned.
Give me my cape back, I'm not done.

They tell you not to conform
Then they fight you until you make your own lane
Im playing the same game you chose
But I'm button mashing Konami codes
Until I can make a march of fifty men
Let's hear the backlash of my actions then
All the sudden it's silence until they all cheer
While I'm doing my own, everyone is living in fear
Am I the only one really living here?

Pick and choose who to take today
Leave the bad, burn the good
Do it for others, be ******.
Hold only for you like you should.
Gut mutts and let the dust kick up
Like the pure bred pup you are.
You're better because you say,
I'm less for being a certain way.
Kick the kids to the streets of the nation
And may they decrease surplus population
No problem there.

The rich hate you exist,
The poor hate that you try,
I'd develop a complex, if not already a complex guy.
The only hand out I've got
Is one flagging a cab to get home
The only kicks that I get
Are the clearance ones I have on
But I'm part of the problem
Just wait they'll tell you why

Create me as an enemy,
Squint and see through their eyes
When all I've ever wanted
Was enough to get by

If my words were like a gun
There would be smoke coming off my tongue
I don't think about life during a sunrise,
During a sunset or a star showered night.
I think about life eating a plate of nachos,
Drinking too much coffee with my wife.
I know in a big picture, I don't make the portrait
But when they torch these walls, I'll help restore them.
I can keep calm with a poker face like you,
But truth is, I'd rather be a joker getting wild with the twos.
I'm one of the few honest liars left
And we don't rattle. We don't rattle.

It's an odd feeling knowing the words,
That keep me up at night,
Won't matter once they're out, still unheard
Only said as the emotion lingering in my head.
I lie in bed putting my thoughts to rest
Sliding my finger to turn the page
Back to the real world behind the stage
Of a notepad and metophorical pen
Because a digital thought looks neat,
If only you saw the backspacing eraser
Scribbling out all my waste you'll never meet.
But we don't rattle. We don't rattle.

These are the things I think of when my eyes close:
I see a place where everything stands still,
A room full of thoughts that can ****,
Repeat the ding from brown noise,
Ping and clang keeping my mind going,
Words blowing through my brain
Like gusts just kicking up dust
For the sake of knowing they exist,
I need to attach life support back on my wrist
The chain strains and the clasp splits
You can't make sense of half of it
But if ever I wrote a line and you loved it
Then I guess it was worth all the rest.

What if I went back to school?
What if I barely see my family?
What if I don't really make it out ahead?
What if tomorrow I go to bed,
Then I just never wake up again?
What if I was happy with my life now
And everyone else who's got a problem
Can just turn their back and back down.
Okay, Ryan, relax it's just a suggestion.
The 502nd sheep just jumped over a fence
Then I cut off my mind from reflection.

It's okay to have bad days and feel good,
It's okay to have good days and feel bad.
You won't find all the answers
In the words written by someone else.
But in days of feeling lost they can help.
I'm a significant nothing in a grand scheme
Looking up to a sky wondering what it all means
I'm something to a few, I'm something to me
It's okay if I'm nothing to you.
I'm just a face in an ever passing crowd,
Hey it's getting late, may I sleep now?

Tell them a story kid,
Show them a world brand new
Or a looking glass unseen
Show them the world as you see it
Stuck in the middle of life
Like the lie you believe in.
I've seen my spirit drop my body
Then pull back yelling "I'm not leaving"
People want your blood like vampires
And they can have it when I retire
Until that day, I'll battle these demons.

Don't get lost in a good book
Or some poem by a written no one
Go outside and look at the clouds
see what others still haven't found
Lay down, like a child, right on the ground
And count the cars as they pass
Not with your eyes, just wait for the sound
You know, I used to, how about you?

I bet there's an old shop you remember
All remodeled and renewed,
If you could have it back, what would you do?
Lost some friends and family?
I've lost those too, trade it all away
For an hour or two, catch up for a minute
To tell them about life, where you've gotten in it.
And in times your memory of them fades
I'm certain they feel the same way.

Tell them a story kid
Show them a world brand new
Or a looking glass unseen
Show them the world as you see it