Young Man’s Story
So begins the story of a young boy born into a cold land
Born to a prostitute and her pimp of a man
Born into a world where no one cares to lend a hand
Yet still innocent because he doesn’t yet understand
Some years have passed… he’s just turned 5
His momma is just happy he’s alive
Because she passed on a “giftâ€â€¦ human immunodeficiency virus
The rest of his life will be a struggle to survive
By the time he reaches grade school his momma is dead
Not from what you think but a shot to the head
You see, one day her baby’s daddy gets upset
‘Cause she can’t work no more… she was his main source of bread
This young boy witnessed his momma’s murder
Acted out by the one person he thought would never hurt her
Now he has no parents because daddy received the chair for her
Grandma took him in with plans to make his life better
So far she’s raising him to be a pretty good kid
Yet there’s a fire inside of him she can’t seem to rid
She sees him doing some of the same things his father did
She prays everyday that he doesn’t get a bid
By the Lord’s will he lived to graduate
Grandma’s so proud… she’s practically elated
Hugs, smiles and photographs are the order of the day
He beat the statistics despite all the haters
Now this young man is at a cross road in his life
He never took the time to decide where to go with his life
And he has a pretty girlfriend… he plans to make her his wife
And he doesn’t want to endure his parents’ lowly strife
He’s tired of learning so he snubs the idea of going to college
And his heart is heavy from all his life’s mileage
Because of this he feels he has enough knowledge
He has street smarts but never considered himself a scholar
His girlfriend hits him with the news one day
A soon to be father with a baby on the way
Now the pressure is building… no more games to play
Got to make that paper… go to find a way
He hit the job market hard but nothing is produced
Day after day… same shirt… same tie
Newspaper in his hand and a copy of the bus route
Nothing to show for it leaves him to wonder why
His wife tries to support him the best way she can
She’s worried about the bills but still lets him be a man
The lights are about to be cut off but she tries to understand
She loves him so she plays her role in their family plan
He’s becoming frustrated as hell at the lack of employment
He does whatever he can to bring in some kind of money
He desires to be paid so they can have some enjoyment
But the reality is… being broke ain’t funny
Waiting for the bus one day he runs into one of his father’s friends
“Boy if you ain’t the splitting image of your fatherâ€
“I got a way for you to make some endsâ€
“They ain’t gonna give you a job so why bother?â€
We move now down the line to a year later
He’s now running drugs and he’s good at it
His wife is a little upset but the income is much greater
So she prays everyday he doesn’t fall victim to an automatic
He feels good about the money he’s making
He feels like his life can’t possibly improve
He feels like the world is his for the taking
So he’s oblivious when his enemies make their move
He comes home one day to find people in his house
One man is holding… playing with his daughter
The other has a gun to his spouse
Came home just in time to watch the slaughter
Gun blasts like rough drafts of a solemn poem
He was forced to watch them end the life of his wife
He pleaded with these men to leave his daughter alone
I guess somewhere they had a heart… they left the child after taking his life
I guess karma was apart of his plan
What goes around comes around again
A tragic end for this lost man
And like he, his child was left an orphan