Fruit flies in my face
as I spy more cracks in the old plaster walls
paint peeling off the ceiling
I sit and watch it as it falls
a piece here and a piece there
Never run out of excuses
I’ll find the time I swear
yeah I’ll fix that shit next weekend
or maybe the next one after that
Lived too many years like the years never end
but tonight fifty-five years holler back
wake up! there’s way more spent than what’s left
won’t be too long before it goes pitch-black
&&&
what did you want to be when you grew up?
go ahead and laugh, but I wanted pitch for the Yankees
can still remember myself out in front of our building
hour after hour
winding up, firing that rubber ball at that chalk-drawn square on the brick wall
next to our front door
&&&
Well, all grown up now
and grown up enough to know you never really figure it out
things happen, you meet people, you make choices
do what you will to drown out the doubt
and a man of so little valor deserves so much less
than the family and friends and women and children who’ve loved me
but only a fool would turn them down, I guess
&&&
and more fruit flies in my face
as I stare at the walls
did more than nothing but suppose I didn’t do enough
but it’s not over yet there’s time left yet before the curtain falls