For Gary
I’m going home to see my friend
I want to see how’s he’s been
He’s lost too much of who he really is
I took the world that used to be his
We were friends way back when
We’d drink all night then do it again
Then I let a women get in the way
I told him there was no more time to play
He couldn’t believe our friendship would end
I said I had to settle down my good friend
He said no friend would do that to another
You can’t just drop people and run for cover
I knew he was right but she was on my mind
In my dreams it was her face that I would find
We tried to keep the good times rolling
But then it happened and the story began unfolding
It’s a free ride
Almost defiant
It’s something
Not just anything
Then you lay it down
And they talk about it
The wounds heal
But did your mind?
Fearlessness is easy
Until it’s not
They asked you why
And you didn’t answer
Because then you would be them
Because before the crash
You didn’t ask why
You just knew you had to do it
There was no compromise
Just the road
In control
Until you’re not
Then what should be fast
Becomes slow
And what is slow
Will forever last
For what is fleeting
Is but a glimpse
And what is slow
Is everlasting
You think
I’m alive
And I want to stay that way
You remember how things taste
And how your mother will feel
The good thing about being slow is the thought process
You can think it through
You can remember
And that’s why you fight
Your body shuts down
And so your mind
Because you thought and knew
You knew this is it
And it’s just pure consciousness
Until it stops
And as you confirm your pulse
You know it will never be the same
No matter what you say
It will never be the same
I told him, “It was me in that car”
We had just left an uptown bar
I slid and barely missed a pole
But luckily my car didn’t roll
We went to find a tow truck
While I wondered about my luck
I’d wrecked a car that night
But I was alive and suffered only fright
It was a message that I had already read
It said, “Grow up or you’ll soon be dead”
I heard it loud and clear this time around
I told my friend I was going to leave town
It was time for me to become a man
I did it but it was hard for him to understand
You can’t drink all night, day after day
It took a woman and a wreck to make me obey
My friend could only watch as I left swiftly
He wasn’t ready to say goodbye so very quickly
He made me confront how callous I really was
I told him it’s time because that’s what a man does
He couldn’t accept that it was so easy for me
I said I used my chances up and so will you eventually
Twenty years have passed and one day he called
We had talked here and there about things we recalled
He’s married now and he loves his wife very much
But he still remembers the past and wants to stay in touch
There’s a friend you have and it’s someone you love
Between men this is not something that is spoken of
It’s not about romance or just hanging out
It’s the soul and the heart I’m talking about
A true friend will accept you no matter what
But you will never know if you keep your heart shut
Tell him how you feel about how you are the same
And he will always support and will never blame
Women come and women go
But a man’s friend is always so
Nothing lives in between our laughter
And nothing dies even twenty years after
