gofy

"SON OF SMOKE: THE BIRTH OF SHADOW" (Intro) Sound of a match being struck, followed by a deep inhalation Yes... this is for all those born in darkness Wu-Tang Clan forever Listen to the story of the son of smoke... (Verse 1) I was born in the shadows of the raw asphalt, 1992 At ten years old, I already saw the world as murky My old man taught me the art of the cigar As the smoke rose, my soul turned bitter The boys my age played with balls I learned to roll, to control my cravings On street corners where men lost their names I found my voice, my only diploma The crackle of tobacco, my first symphony While other children dreamed of fantasies I already knew the taste of ash Nicotine running through my veins, my compass My mother cried in the kitchen, she saw my future Like a gray cloud without Form, without pure destiny But the old man said: "This boy is one of us" "He'll learn to walk among the ghosts, without fear" (Verse 2) At twelve, my first bottle of liquor The old man smiled while my throat burned "This will make you strong, this will make you a man" "The world is for those who can endure the poison" The nights stretched out like the smoke from my cigarette The days vanished between hangovers and delirium I met prostitutes, thieves, ghosts I learned to read eyes, to distinguish threats My adolescence was a battlefield Where each vice was a medal, a scar On Sundays at church, I crossed myself While in my pocket I carried my next downfall The priest spoke of hell, I already lived in it Among the smoke of the confessionals and the smell of skin Of lost women like me, seeking solace In the arms of other ghosts, in this I am the son of smoke, the man of men I grew up among clouds of vice, a tadpole From a young age I learned to walk on fire Now my shadow smokes, my body is the bait I am the son of smoke, the man of men With each drag, my soul is stripped Of the innocence I never knew I am the product of vice, my only truth (Verse 3) At fifteen, tobacco was no longer enough The old man took me to the bar where the shadows danced "A shot of whiskey makes you more of a man," he said While the alcohol burned my necklace, my life I learned to master the dizziness, the nausea To walk straight while the world went mad The nights stretched out like the smoke from my cigarette The days vanished between hangovers and delirium I met prostitutes, thieves, ghosts I learned to read eyes, to distinguish threats My adolescence was A battlefield Where every vice was a medal, a scar The first day I saw someone die of an overdose Was the same day the old man bought me my first suit "Life is short, you have to dress well to die" "And if you're going to fall, do it with style, my son" (Verse 4) Seventeen arrived with my first arrest For hitting a guy who looked at my cigarette the wrong way Jail was another university, another lesson Where I learned that smoke is the only nation Without borders, without flags, without patriotism Only the echo of the cough, the ritual Of lighting another cigarette, another bottle, another night Another day lost in memory, another fling I got out at eighteen, darker, taller With more scars, fewer dreams, worse The old man had died of lung cancer And I inherited his cigarette, his shadow, his goodbyes "The man who doesn't smoke doesn't know heaven" He told me before he left, and I I followed it, without longing For another life, another world, another way out Because smoke was already my home, my only life (Bridge) Sometimes I look in the mirror and don't recognize the boy Who once dreamed of being a pilot, of having a destiny But smoke took those dreams away, turned them to ash And I learned to dance with the embers, to find my harmony I've seen good men fall, I've seen bad ones rise I've seen how vice can be a form of prayer Because when there's nothing left, when everything is lost Smoke becomes the only known god (Verse 5) Now my face shows the map of my nights Sunken eyes, skin marked by my choices Smoke no longer comes only from my cigarettes It also comes from my mouth when I speak, when I explain my long Years of learning at the university of pain Where every vice was a teacher, a mentor I've seen men fall, I've seen some rise I'm still here, with my Cigarette, my way of being I have a daughter she doesn't know, a woman waiting for me But I always end up in the same corner, in the same sphere Where the smoke thickens, where the night never ends Where a man finds his true divinity Not in the sky, not on earth, not in water or fire But in the rising smoke that becomes my legacy In the ash that remains, in the echo of my cough In the story of a man