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To Be a Man

Dressed in a black suit In fancy black loafers In snazzy black dress pants With a little handkerchief in my coat pocket With my hair slicked back nice and neat With my mouth in a wide fake smile You'll find one thing not pretty and shiny And that's everything in my head But they say life is a masquerade And I'm just part of the parade They tell me to fall in line I'm one among a million clones Every utterance a regurgitation But look at my suit And look inside my wallet That's what makes me a 'man' But the facade will never reach my eyes As life tries to suck the soul right out of them Forgive me for shattering the illusion But inside I'm crying and slowly dying But I laugh as I watch the news I laugh as I hand customers their change I laugh as it gets just a little too hot And I laugh when I look in the mirror Alone I rip off the black suit I throw the fancy loafers at the wall I take scissors to the snazzy black dress pants I wipe away my blood, sweat, and tears with the handkerchief I ruffle my hair to ruin my slicked back hair And I slap my mouth to get rid of the fake smile It's only in complete isolation you'll find something truly pretty and shiny And that's everything in my head splattered on the mirror

Copyright © | Year Posted 2019




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Book: Shattered Sighs