You ask me why everyone around you is succeeding
And you’re left alone conceding these feelings
From when you first departed
Aspirations written down on the application you started
To your future life -
But it didn’t last long before you tripped
It was, as you said, your hand slipped
And now it hovers tiredly overthe page you call “the present.”
It isn’t that you didn’t prepare
You cared
You even learnt the art of the flaunt
Throw away what you wanted
To get more of what you want
You’re a hero without a costume to disguise
The shock when your efforts yield a net sum of zero.
You’re not a fool – yet you still seem so surprised
You’re watching the microwave timer with slow eyes
Trying to identify
The point where you wavered
That one moment
Where you overreached.
Look there! The opportunity you once sought
Now you pass it by without a sober second thought
Everything floats downstream
You know it but you’re caught
So firmly rooted in the silt that you can’t dodge the bullets
So filthy from the guilt you won’t dislodge or couldn’t
And you can’t call out, no you can’t call out,
Because the river is too damn loud.
Who am I to be talking? Eyes full of invalidation
There just ain’t a problem that can compare to your own situation
No Goliath larger than the indecision in your heart
No David stronger than your loneliness in the dark
When you slide your thumb across your mobile.
We’re all juvenile
You just aren’t that unique
You’re just trying to be more distinct than you think
Your competition is. Let me give you a tour
A real crash-course to being an entrepreneur
Step One: it’s about wants not needs
Think of something where the answer is “yes” not “please”
Wrap it up real nice, light ice, cool exterior
Powerpoint presentation got them fooled that you’re superior
Ulterior motives are your next of kin
Swaddle the wolf baby in that soft sheep’s skin
And let me use it. After that, let me abuse it.
Bind me with the stimulus so I’ll never refuse it.
I want to bathe in the sewage from the lights,weather permitting
I want to paint my name in neon across the brick wall I keep hitting.
The obligations in my heart clash with the opportunity of the era
Trade in my passions for an income to make an ugly chimera
You and I
We’re both children of the same parents
We’re both raised by ambition and the greed inherent
In our taste buds, and our tear ducts
In our stomachs and our livers and our conduct.
I know you’re hungry for truth
But before you bite down on the carcass of your youth
Trade in your spreadsheet for my cheat sheet
Let me offer up some fresh meat
The feeling when your phone battery still runs after two weeks
The freedom you recovered after dating that deadbeat
Consider moving forward means to momentarily retreat
A worthwhile side-step from your narrative
Into a comparatively less lucrative lifestyle. Meanwhile,
I want to message you with an electronic smile
I want your blue lit skin beguiled by my arial font
I want it to say, “there’s nothing more that I want”
Because I’m happy.
