By the time I started to realize what was happening
They already had me
Still, I tried to fight it
I skipped class
And spent every weekday
In the philosophy section
On the 13th floor
Some kindred spirit
Had written
In red marker
On my favorite desk,
“Ships are safe
In the harbor
But that’s not what ships are for”
For a few months
Of my sophomore year
It seemed like
I’d jumped off the conveyor belt
In time
But I was already
In the belly
Doing my job
With the other cogs
Because even if you’re not working
They’ve still got you wrapped up in it
Somehow
I cared so damn much
What my dad thought
And the girls at school
I studied hard
And when that wasn’t enough
I cheated
You see
They get you when you’re young
And you’ve got no idea
You’re still wet
You’re drenched
And you’re already counting blocks
It takes a few years
But they keep at it
Until you’re sure it’s all about the blocks
You get old and you get set in your ways
And you don’t even want to smoke weed anymore
You just want to feel a little less pain
And you laugh when you think about
The meeting at night
In the abandoned room above the dining hall
And the plan to distribute pamphlets
And overthrow the whole university
You laugh at it now
But you were dead serious then
June 23, 2023 at 06:37PM