On Your Mark

Mind racing 100 meters a second

Back to the old days when I set the record

Straight, that is, the path I ran

Though none of it was my own plan

Forced to run, but no where to hide

A dad who's your boss, not on your side

Track is life, but it brings me death

I still haven't felt what life is yet

I ran for nine years, starting at five

a childhood lost before it could survive

no other sports, until soccer when I'm older

but at time goes on, Dad's heart get colder

I quit when I as a freshmen in highschool

I was over having a coach who was so cruel

But my coach was my dad and I'll never forget

The days my asthma almost left me for dead

" Your just outta shape, keep going harder"

But breathing wasn't a challenge, I coudln't go farther

I had a condition that he refused to treat

It was listen to him, or I'd get beat

I lived in fear for those nine years

I better go to practice or I'd come back in tears

5 am workouts in the chill of Illinois

My mornings soon lost all of its joy

One day, I was sick of this life

It got to the point when I reached for the knife

I stopped my self and told myself to quit

the life that I had, I decided to spit

I told him I was done with track

It really took him a back

I felt free, like I could be myself

I retired and put my spikes on the shelf

Since then he hasn't been the same

No interest in my life, a total shame

He left my mom, my sister and me

To go and start a new family

he lives in california with two new kids of his own

I sat here for years, hearing my mom groan

She did her best, and I commend her for that

But what I would do, to have my real dad back.

I'm running a new race, its this thing called life

I keep running in circles and can't get it right

But damnit I'm trying to figure it out

Not the life of my dad's, my own new route.