When you become a man
you learn
that a man is not so easily
forgiven.

They stop ignoring
your slip-ups and little
mistakes.

When you are young
the world lets you
get away with
frivolity.

There is
freedom still.
Weekends and summer evenings
light and airy,
conversations on the hoods of
cars.

But then,
when grown,
the texture of life hardens
and everything is suddenly so
serious.

The line is suddenly so thin
between breadlines
and
jail cells.

If you let it slip -
let them see you sweat
even just for a minute -
they'll eat you alive
kid.

Mark said the other day that
people are just trying momentarily
to escape their
miserable
little
lives.

The bars are full every weekend
and so too are the cubicles
every Monday
morning.

Our decisions used to be just
experiments
but now the wrong one can
steal the food from
a baby's
mouth.

It is at this point that you are left
wondering aloud
asking,

"What is this all about then?
What are we to do with this newfound knowledge
and understanding?"

The girls, the cars and
the friends
are all gone and
its just you.
Creating a tiny existence
in an expansive universe.

We used to dream.

These days I would just kill
for a decent night of
sleep.

But sleep yields no crops and
crops keep
the collectors
from
calling.