what I didn’t know

where the roads through town wound up

how far away you could get in just a little time

people would smile but not mean what they say

others would frown but not let you down

the power of even the smallest creature in the world

I didn’t know why I should go to school

or why it was time to go home

who shot the Kennedys and Martin Luther King

what they were doing upstairs

made a lot of noise but the sounds were strange

I didn’t know I’d remember you for the rest of my life

I didn’t know I’d regret the way I didn’t step up or out

I was a coward then I didn’t want to be alone

I never really got back then that we all grow old & die

or how fast the stream of time rolls by

I thought I could handle the juice

but it would manhandle me

I didn’t know how much I’d struggle

to carry that old guitar

those days we’d traipse across the city long

with a guitar stretching my arm

I still didn’t know

what the people upstairs were up to

with that crazy electric sound

that the old people hadn’t always been old

that the big war was fought just a few short years before

why he wanted me to move in at the house

we’d stop talking & run

didn’t know the world could feel this dangerous

that he’d be shouting at the end of his speech

how little I’d remember of the things that meant so much

how much I could love a dog

the city I knew vanished when I went down South

a lot of these times would become stories

and the stories became cliches

I didn’t know they’d have to operate

didn’t know I’d feel this beat

didn’t know the trends I thought were bad

would rise up & take control

I didn’t know I’d need to know your birthday

didn’t know I’d get so blue

didn’t know relief was just a prayer away

I could ask at any time for relief

all you got to do is ask

I could start my day again

didn’t know to start this one right

didn’t know I’d need gratitude.

I thought I knew but didn’t

who was coming down the street

or listening from the back of the room

or that day we said goodbye on Broadway

was the last time that we’d ever meet

didn’t know I’d be wondering about you

didn’t think I could know what to do

life is lived in the moments

lines are collected on scraps

friends are all friends forever

there are places you can’t find on maps

there are secrets that won’t be

I didn’t know I’d have enough money

to survive even tho’ I went broke

I couldn’t see how my mother & father

could have acted that way & not choked

the ones that we paid scant attention

are the ones who would bring the house down

I didn’t know I coulda taken it easy

& let the whole world come my way

I was confused & deceived in my thinking

somehow I gave all my power away

oh well there’s always…today.