Why I Stepped Off the Straight and Narrow

Whaddya do when you’ve got a plan

All laid out for your life

Be good, grow up, and be a man

And find a lovely wife

 

Have seven kids and raise them well

And teach them what to do

Cause if you don’t they’ll go to hell

And, guess what, so will you.

 

And every step along the path

Was laid out straight and clear

But something’s wrong with all their math

And filled me up with fear

 

When looking straight ahead I saw

A lonely broken me

Who lived the all-consuming law

And never could break free

 

So off I trod a step or two

From straight and narrow way

And fin’lly I could just be true

To what I wouldn’t say

 

And hiding under hidden strands

Of lies to let me breathe

My plans were ruined by my glands

And truth I couldn't sheathe

 

So lying, lying, day by day

To keep from going mad

Then he came in and helped me say

What’s making me so sad

 

Like rivers pushing past their banks

I wish my truth could flow

But truth is ruled by social cranks

And dammed they’ll never know.

This poem is about: 
Me
My community

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