Born knowing death walks behind me
Knowing he can run faster than I could.
I know he toys with me once in a while
Tapping my shoulder with a car accident
Or a painful illness for fun.

I know he’s behimd me making faces and
Deciding if he would catch up or not.
Knowing he has to do so someday.
Probably deciding what to do with me
When he catches up…maybe something new!

Don’t know who he is.  Maybe a stranger,
A friend, perhaps family, or maybe a
Machine, or a drug I’m allergic to.
He could be my shadow, or the one
I fear the most…he could be me.

I can tell from that frown that the world has got you down –
all this anxiety and stress has got you all depressed
but my friend, it’s not too late — soon you will be feeling great

if only you had faith like Bill and put your trust in God
’cause it’s your own free will that makes this whole thing odd
You know he’s the boss but that’s a line he will not cross
though if you just ask him for a hand, I’m sure he’d understand
if only you had faith like Bill and chose to follow God.

There are some things you can’t avoid like finding yourself unemployed
and though the kids don’t get enough to eat, you shouldn’t sit there in defeat
’cause my friend, it’s not too late — soon you will be feeling great

You’ve found you can no longer hide from famine, rape, and genocide
It’s your fault you have it rough ’cause you don’t worship hard enough
but my friend, it’s not too late — soon you could be feeling great

Your heart must have sunk when you heard your child was run over by a drunk
and God could have kept him from harm — that dead child in your arms
but my friend, it is too late — life would have been just great

Washing women’s clothes
The drag queen gets some strange looks
at the laundromat

A rubber spider
here unceremoniously
failed to frighten me

Forty minute wait
Tumble dry on high — I sip
sixty four ounces

Trees shade the sidewalk
zooming motorists speed past
cyclists passing through

Whites here, colored there
I feel a little guilty
Segregating clothes