Myself

My parents got some big money problems
We're all young and we're countin' on 'em
I'm four years old, you think I'm bouncing on 'em?
I just sit back and watch, thinkin' bout em

Mom's probably stronger than Pops is
The talk is, that the old man has lost it
Last week he came back from work
I saw him on the porch
With a glass of milk in his shirt
He was flippin' out
Mom probably put it there
Judging from how angry that she was
It probably should be there
Now both folks know that I'm standing there
But Mama protects me
Throws me behind her back
Why did Papa do that?
What's that tellin' me?
Birds can't help but sing a melody. (I ain't stupid)
Happy ever after is nothing but a fantasy
Police are part of our family
Son and mother look out from the porch
See father's head duck under the door

I believe in nothing
I believe in myself
I believe in nothing
Nothing at all

My papa got some big anger problems
I'm getting older and I'm sick about 'em
It's getting harder just to live around it
I need to take a stand as a man, I need to be about it

So ring around the posies round the living room table
I can't remember what we were arguing about
I stood up to the scariest man in the country
I held my head high as I left the house
Little boy stood in the face of a dragon
Left with the heart of a lion, amazing
It's funny, I left the house so it could cool down
But the dragon stayed hot, who's the fool now?
Papa and the devil, sitting in the basement
A-R-S-O-N-I-N-G
Young son, headed back to the household
Running down the block, eight firetrucks deep
Fell to my knees and I screamed in the front yard
Fireman running around like no one's in charge
Sort of like when it rains, it pours
See the flames burst out of the door

I've learned a lifetime
A lifetime as a boy
Evil's on the inside
Waiting for all

Got an apartment
I'm 20 years old
Finally thinking I have everything under control
It's been years since I spoke to the man
When, he gave me his old cutlass to get out of the sand
So just like a hyena, I take the meat
And then I run my ass away, you need to let me be
But over time a part of me knew one needed to speak
That's right when the world decided that it couldn't be
It's the biggest hurdle thinking past tense
When a strong man takes his last breath