Just a song/poem I wrote several years ago that this sub made me remember. Cheers.
Woke up this morning and I made up my bed
Alarm's still ringing, no, it's only my head
Tied up my laces, ran around a few blocks
I’ll be off to the races until my heart stops
The races are fixed but I’m sure it’s okay
All things left unbroken will shatter someday
Maybe it’s fate, maybe I’m still to blame
Forever returning the way that I came
I lift up my eyelids wide enough just to see
The face of some stranger staring right back at me
As I count all my dreams before they can fade
Into synthetic light and a dull razor blade
He said “Don't point a finger, just look around
Your big ideas will only bring you down
You can go to school and play by the rules
Take strength in numbers and laugh at the fools”
Woke up this morning, alone and abused
Each new day leaves me feeling more used
A nice cold meal and a five-minute shower
To keep me awake for a couple more hours
Same old dry coffee, same old dry clothes
And the same tired people outside my windows
A frightened, young boy left wondering why
And a wise, old man just waiting to die
“This is the story of an American hero
Closer to God and farther from zero
Leaving for work at a quarter past seven
To put in his time and make it to heaven”
The radio’s on and they’re breakin’ the news
Yeah, the home team won but what did we lose?
The highway’s a desert, I’m driving for shade
But I’m stuck here inside of some funeral parade
And how the flags hang dead in the mid-summer breeze
Sentenced to life in the land of the free
Angry and scared by what’s tried and what’s true
I see what they mean by red, white, and blue
For all these years, I’ve been walking the line
Stuck between sorrow and my peace of mind
But when the road ends and the bridge is left burned
Which side will I take and where will I turn?
You know, I’ve asked myself so many times
Through these tortured plains and streets of crime
Somewhere in between the bloodied tracks
The false alarms and the sneak attacks
Could there be someone above it all
Up there watching, judging as we fall?
Well, if there was I might ask him why
He just left us here to live and die
But now I’m in demand and on location
Still six months from my next vacation
I work up a smile as I walk through the door
Never stopping to ask for a little bit more
Just spending my time and paying my dues
Looking outside for the sunny day blues
When I forget where I am I remember to think
Only hours away from something to drink
As the neon paints the evening sky
I know one more day has passed me by
But tonight, it brings a moonlight drive
And all the things I do to feel alive
The window’s down and just for awhile
I think, maybe I’ll go out in style
The barroom’s buzzing, the band begins
Just now awake and it’s half past ten
This is the story of an American hero
Farther from God and closer to zero
Stopping into the Seven Eleven
Made it this far, never made it to heaven
A half-tank of gas, a cigar, and some matches
Yeah, I’ve stood in line and I’ve paid my taxes
But I found the trigger, now I’m building the gun
I’ll take what is mine and set off on the run
I’ve been digging a hole in search of the truth
I’ve grown old looking for the fountain of youth
And when it’s all over, what would be left?
A lifetime of memories lined with regret
With one final storm, the bridge finally breaks
Not sorry to say I don’t have what it takes
To add up the bills and forget all my fears
For forty more hours, maybe forty more years
I woke up this morning and made up my head
I’ve got to get somewhere before I get dead
Let go of these people and leave them behind
They’re saving their souls but they’re losing their minds
Out in the distance there's a light that's still glowing
I’ll put my foot down and I’ll just keep on going
But I left my last paycheck back there at the bar
And a half-tank of gas only gets you so far
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