Temporary

Used to look at life like a fairytale until I took a left and left ain’t go so well Old heads on the porch yellin’ “play it smart,” but I was young, runnin’ wild, finish before I could start. Now I’m showin’ figures like an international phone number, inside feelin’ drained, draggin’ into a lonely slumber. Every cat from back in the day suddenly hittin’ my cellular, talkin’ “remember when” like they was a daily regular. Y’all was absent when the winter got brutal, now you show up at the gate lookin’ for approval. That’s that plastic love, that artificial high, full tank in the driveway just to look at the sky and sigh. They see the flash and think the picture’s permanent… this whole world? Just a temporary journey It’s all temporary… Finna tell you how it look from the inside out, when you realize what those old heads was talkin’ about. They want you on a pedestal just to push you off the side, got me walkin’ easy, balance checkin’ a dangerous line. Ole boy from the playground now shootin’ up the rocks, lookin’ at me sideways, checkin’ the face of my watch. Said I changed up, said I ain’t the same from when we was kids told him “yea, that’s the old me, I stopped fallin’ for them same ole tricks.” You can’t buy peace at the department store, partna, brightest shine always make the backroom look darkuh I’m just tryin’ to keep my mind right while the engine rev, keepin' my day-to-day separate from what the outsiders said… the rest is background noise It’s all temporary