Knowing How the World Works

Pappa don't preach,

I beseech you man,

Your devilish deeds

Teach more than a teacher can.

What have we learned?

Which lessons won't stick?

Tracing the edges

Of wisdom and shit.

Knowing how the world works

Is not knowing how to work the world.

You're tracing its movements,

Predict its every turn;

You watch down from above

And record what you learn.

You're graphing the data

And tagging up our ears.

Complex simulations

With graph paper gears.

Wistful in his widow's peak,

So to speak, he stands.

A son confronts his father

With his hat in his hands.

All the things you never could do,

I never can.

All the things I blamed on you

I see I now do, too.

A handful of stories,

A house full of cards,

A mouthful of sorrys,

And a heart full up of scars.

I take a handful of you

And take a handful of me,

I put it in my mouth

And chew it up so thoroughly.