I know why no one wants to be the hero,
A hero's story doesn't end well.
He doesn't get to see a golden gate,
He leads you there then walks away.
Heroes can inspire all but themselves
Placed on shelves waiting to fall
And that downfall is the story they'll tell.
Watch and see for yourself.

I wish more people wanted to be heroes,
Tie their capes in broad day and save
Because look, I mean really look,
The villains aren't stopping,
You hear the newscasters jaws dropping
Every night that another kid won't be alright.
So we wave white flags as victims,
And I don't know about you
But I'm ready to fight
For something so much bigger than me.
Come and be one for yourself

I know why no one wants to be the hero,
They let the bad guys have all the fun.
The vigilantes can't work a system
With zero liability who's to blame
I don't believe I can stop it one on one
But extend a hand to you all the same.
Why can't we all be heroes,
And stop all the distress, you and I.
No one wants to be a hero
Because evil will never die.

You can watch the world tick,
You can watch the sun tock.
Spinning to infinity, trapped on a big clock.
Time never tells when your pendulum stops
Breathing to be leaving only a breath behind.
Leave behind a legacy, holding onto what's mine.
Only to realize that nothing is mine
Just a ticket to the gate passed living lines.

Life slips through fingers like a blur,
Conversations twist into a slur,
But the rain is sweet around me
When I leave, let everything be as it were,
It's beautiful by mistake,
It's beautiful with magnificent purpose.
Let it exist and keep greed away.

Don't tell the kids not to play
I know more accidents happen that way
But so do most of the memories.
We create rules to stay safe,
We create rules for kids to break,
Somewhere in that a friendship for them to make.
And if we all make it home
We can laugh it off along the way.
We can laugh it off along the way.

I wrote a book about making riches,
Sold it for twenty dollars a copy,
And made a lot of riches,
Open it up and it said to just do this.
Most people understand the ball
But keep missing the pitches.
As soon as you have the keys,
Every lock appears to be switching.

They say you'll make it far
With a modest heart,
An open mind and an honest tongue.
The person saying that was shaking a hand
In his pocket hiding a gun,
A couple side deals that felt like solid leads,
Stealing an honest man's wallet while he bleeds.
But you take it at face value
Instead of biting the hand that feeds.
Why? Because you don't have a choice it seems.

I'm not a starving artist,
I don't have the gift to be,
I'll stroke out stressing on a job
That stands with or without me
Retire then expire, dance the dance of fools,
pay into social security I'll never get to use.
Go ahead and tax my tea,
I can't afford the tea to tax
Just don't ever move that carrot
Or I may fall off these tracks.

There's spiders crawling up my back
They walk beneath my skin
Following my veins as tracks
If I give in to the itch and scratch,
They'll only go deeper down it seems
In a whack-a-mole, I'll never win
There's no cut to end the scene
A T virus living within me
Too young for this vaccine.

There's a dagger digging in my side
Giving a twist every five minutes or so
As hard as I've tried, I can't remove it
For a few weeks then I guess it resides
I don't know if they can tell me
Why I always throw dice and end up
With such luck of drawing snake eyes
But they seem to be on the slither
Scaling quickly up and down my spine

There's a room that's been spinning a bit,
A headache for days that just won't quit,
I'm losing focus and maybe you noticed
But I'm trying hard not to throw a fit.
I'm anxious and truly I don't wish to mingle,
I'm twenty - six and I have the shingles
And my roof is leaking a bit.

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.