21 Today
March 29, 2020
For Lincoln, while for me, a reprise to Give Me The Monster.
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You're 21 today
And I wish there was a way
I could salvage this day.
There's no parade, no public display,
No singing waiters, no cake.
The world's shut down
Right when I can buy you a round.
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It seems the story since your birth,
Within a month gunfire in Colorado burst,
And nowhere left on earth
Did human life seem to have any worth
With logical responses a dearth.
School hallways on shut down
And barely a peep on the playgrounds.
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So I suppose it should be no surprise
That you were only two when Mom and I
Raced under silent skies,
Fighting back our cries
To take you from caregivers' side.
The world shut down
Leaving us alive in a ghost town.
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I moved you twice
And you paid a price,
Assholes a-plenty, absence of anything nice,
Parents no better than lice,
Like maggots hiding in the rice.
The weight went up as you shut down,
Through the pain you still shed the pounds.
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Even when life seemed a cruise,
You came home to the heart-breaking news
Your grandparents we did lose,
The odorless way we get consumed
By the deepest of blues.
Even with a house shut down,
You sought refuge in word and sound.
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I tried to leave you too soon,
Heart in failure, body in swoon.
As I lay in that fucking hospital room,
You refused to envision a tomb
Or flowers across a box strewn.
How could I completely shut down
When you still needed me around?
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So you're 21 today and all I see
Is a future as uncertain as can be,
And I wonder what will be your legacy?
All I can say is that especially this week,
As I listen to Dylan, listen to me,
Take what you can from Morrissey,
Frame your world view as you need
From The Clash, The Oils, Rage Against the Machine.
Rely on Tanya's emotional intimacy,
Or the discordance of the Boo Radleys,
Count on the next amazing James CD.
Music is the form that sets us all free
By linking our hurt with our beauty.
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