A long time ago, when I was a kid there was
lots of stupid stuff that i know that I did                                              
But one thing I know is, if I had a beef                                                         with somebody else, then i'd knock out his teeth.

There was no need for knives, *** I dont mind a fight.        
Only cowards use blades, and you know that I'm right.                  
If you can't use your fists like a real man would,  
then I'd give it up boy cause you're really no good.
                                                                ­                                        
We would battle it out, not go in for the ****.
It was to sort out a problem not a maniacs thrill.                                          The best man would win and then it was done.                                        Sorted out like two men, without a knife or a gun.

We don't beat on our woman, nor man handle the old.                        
It was not our intention to be laced up in gold
We wasn't bought up to go out and rob      
So we did what they all did then and got us a job.

We never took our vengeance over the top                  
we never shot at people or murdered a cop                                                   If thats my attitude I would have been shown the door.            
If you wanna be a killer then go find you a war.

Would they be as brave if the other's shot back                                            or if they'd walked on a land mine *** they'd strayed off the track.        
Travelling to places where kids are dying of aids and                              instead of staying too help they could go out on night raids.

Now its got to be said that i am getting no younger                                 but my heart brims with hurt when kids are dying of hunger.                 So if you wanna be a man then just throw down your gun.                      Go and travel to these lands where there is work to be done.

If you think your a big man and you want to see death.                             Go to a land with no water and you'll see the bereft.                                   and if you're so big that you dont feel the pain                              
just take that blade out and open a vein.

Isn't it time for you to at last realise.                                            
That attrocities are real and dont come in disguise.                            
so go out there 'Boy' and do all that you can                                    
and when you do that I will call you a 'man'.

So I hope you heed the warning to keep away from that gun.                   Give your mother an extra day of seeing her son.                      
Smiling and breathing, that child to whom she gave birth.            
Not rotting in a graveyard covered by six foot of earth.

Learn a lesson from your breatheren who end up full of lead                   and end the retaliation that leaves another kid dead.                      
The hospitals can give figures better than I ever could                        
but just listening to the news I know they cannot be good.

So if you must fight take a tip from the past                                             use your natural resourses and that way you may last,                           to use a knife or a gun you dont have to be brave              
and it's sure as hell a fast line to a grave.

You left us on a Thursday, but we decided to wait until the following Monday to do anything with you.

You left your room a mess, more than usual, with sloppy scribbles on the walls about accidents and incidents. Even though your mother always griped and reminded you to be tidy and firm you ignored her because, well, you'll always be who you always were. Your clothes all thrown in the right corners, the cereal bowls filled with mold under your bed. The way you stapled your character through tangled cables and caricature. I loved you every minute of it.

I remember you showing me your worst at the Friday night lights, behind the bleachers. Between cheering and littered beer and soda bottles, you told me something that destroyed my optimism about things. I didn't even notice the plastic crunched under my feet and some kind of snack bar paste that ruined my favorite sneakers. I always loved learning, but not after what you taught me about what he taught you. I guess that's what teachers are for. But he took much more than he ever gave to you on a chalkboard.

I didn't go to your funeral, I was too busy downing the wine in the parking lot I stole from the local supermarket.
And after everyone had left the scene, I was so torn up I went to your tombstone, alone, screaming.
It was later on, maybe eleven pm at night.
There wasn't anyone around, not a soul in sight.

Just you and I. Part of me hopes your spirit was there. Another part of me hopes you didn't witness my blood red eyes and dribbling nose. Anyone could have tasted the rage in the air.

I don't want you to see me how I was, how I am now.
I want you to be in peace at it's best, as one should when they're resting like that and such. It's just that, this was too much for me, it tore me to pieces, ripped me to shreds. I hope they bury me next to you. The decision has been a struggle. But I don't want you to be so lonely down there, so I'm coming to join you. Because now I feel unfinished, like half of a puzzle.