They want to know what I want to see
Before I kick the can.
I'm just hoping to see tomorrow,
I'd be happy with just that with the life I've ran.
I've borrowed time more than twenty times
No need to remind, I'm blessed in cursed flesh
And if that casket in the back of my mind
Isn't enough to get me choked up
I'm not sure I would deserve to be re-woke up.
I'd public speak a hundred times to a stadium crowd
Than to watch this body into the ground.
I don't want to see the wonders,
I just wonder if I will live to see old age.
Turn the page.

And to a father to me, for years wasn't around,
Whatever the case, the man I am is my own,
But I give you the permission to be proud.
I watched my life get uprooted, still grown.
I promise, my kid will always have solid space.
Even if it takes me digging ditches,
His life won't be ditched for another.
He's the precident for a family hindsight me wished.
I'm a character unforgettable to strangers as I've flown
To most relatives I'm a complete unknown.

I don't look for any pity, the opposite of it
Look over the city, making every hit.
I'm a walking statistically non-existent man
You gotta kick it up because yes you can
**** the chains that you think hold you down
But be aware that when you find success
The crickets turn to fake friends saying
They have never not been around.
And that's even worse than silence sounds.

This is a safe place
Take off your face at the door,
Throw your shoes off on the mat,
Or better yet don't wear any at all.
Be as dressed or bare as you'd like.
I've got a couch for sitting,
I have a floor for sitting too.
Don't worry about expectation.
Your demons like to dance?
Mine have a house they're prancing through.

These streets aren't safe,
They're watching you through a scope
You're too overdressed for this place,
Too rugged to be offered a rope,
You aren't doing whatever they are
Exactly the way they are and they notice
Cracking a joke as they pass,
Someone else is cracking a joke about them.
Because validation is only made to satisfaction
At the expense of another body
I'm only as good as the reaction, right?

Fake smile painted like clowns at a losing circus.
Debt for the clothes but it's worth it.
I'm worth a proper penny but I lack the two cents
Of knowledge to not be a clone
No one is talking about life's stress
So it seems I'm alone.
A bar gutting me from my sides
Thinking I got this, I'm in control
But really I'm a foosball player
Just spinning along.

When my school closed, I was in 5th grade,
We all stood outside with balloons.
The older kids understood,
The younger ones just played
The principal made a speech to say
How wonderful this place had been
And the amazing things we'd do someday.

They played a couple songs through stereo
I can't remember which one's by name
But the ending, I do remember just the same
Each of us with a balloon, released that day.
But the story you didn't know was one I've never said
I untied my string, quickly, the balloon floated away.

I ran to the classroom, and cut it up
Thirteen pieces for thirteen classmates.
Waiting for everyone to come
But, wouldn't you know, no one came.
I kept my piece for many years
Throwing it out all but recently
My meaning was left at Saint Mary's
And none have heard that until today.

I miss laying in the grass
Even if it made my skin itch,
The freedom was worth the time to pass.
A sun burned face and back
Feels worth a beautiful day turning to night
In a trance where time goes off track.
How I wish I could hold those days so tight.
Gone in an instant, slipping through aged cracks.

If you sing and dance, no matter where you are.
I support you to hell and back.
If you are afraid to ever show your colors
Because people stare and laugh
I hope you take that random chance,
Someone may even start to clap.
Personally, I laugh right back.
Now the same squares are part of the act.
Keep dancing.

Whenever or wherever it rains
I can only promise one thing
I will be found dancing in the street
Even during work hours, I remove my chains
And take a break to get soaked head to feet.
I promise this is a practice I actually do
And you can feel free to do it too.
Be free. Be you.

Welcome to America,
Where we don't judge you by the color of your skin
But maybe you shouldn't say it
If you have to defend saying you have a black friend.

Welcome to America,
Where every election talks about illegal votes
from a bunch of illegal hosts
From the side you hadn't chose
Then throw your opinion down legal throats.

Welcome to America
Where the news said socialized medicine
Was just another word communism
And you believed them.
Another man got a six figure bill for cancer in his throat
Walking out alive with his house foreclosed.
No money for food, wondering streets unfed.
He's alive but he wishes he was dead.

Welcome to America
Where we talk about gun control
They think that a ban is the goal
But maybe we should look more into who gets sold
And maintain a license to keep
Knowledge is power, totting guns but weak.

Welcome to America
Where the internet is your MD
Don't trust the man who got a degree
Who went to school and ruled your move
But you just Googled it so it must be true

Welcome to America
Where I have pride in this land
But everyone is out of line
For reasons they don't understand
Being ignorant doesn't justify your mind
And maybe even I am out of line
But I'm listening to comprehend

Do you think it's odd,
They question a millennial generation
For being in touch with how they feel?
Should I follow you and push it down?
Let's pretend none of it is real, yeah?
"Close your eyes to injustice, kid.
Don't you talk about it, then we'll have to talk about it."
A lot of Hollywood has to talk about it.
Instead of people putting it to god
We put it to our own selves but none aplaud.
Rather appauld that we speak.
I might fit your snowflake type
But my demons aren't melting in my mind
Trickling through as you close your eyes.

Do you think it's odd,
If people don't understand your problem
They label you as a weak link
But  did you ever stop and think
If it was your name in an oppression,
If it was your heart in a depression,
If it was your loved one shooting up,
Maybe you'd feel different.
You can't help fix these cracked streets
If you have your eyes covered in a sheet
You aren't a hero for making a toast
When the problems hit you were a ghost.

Do you think it's odd
That we are all people
But more often than not **** each other
Praying to a god that doesn't pass judgement to you.

Let me tell you of a girl,
Eating a simple lunch under a tree.
Pretzel sticks, an apple, and peanut butter for dipping.
The sky was blue, the sun shown bright.
The kind of day you might describe
As indescribably perfect, unnoticed.
Walked through but not talked of.
She sat embracing it as children played
In a pool near by on this warm summer day.

Let me tell you of a boy,
Who ran to play with his friends
A boy with blue eyes who couldn't swim.
Running with squirt guns around a poolside,
The pavement slick like ice but
The child did keep caution too
Until a kid behind pushed him in.
Flailing arms and voices screamed out
As a girl ran to see what was about.

Eyes closed, water had its hold
As a girl knew CPR keeping him going
Coughing and coughing, maybe it could work
Choking but alive looking at another with worth
Only long enough to fall back out
On the wrist of  the boy was a medic alert.
"Peanut allergy treat with epinephrine"