(Spoken Intro) I want to tell you a story... of a man I once knew... (Verse 1) I once knew a man who was nothing, just wicked, yeah and his heart was just sick. A soul that was frozen, a man that would do just about anything for a fix. He lived for the moment, never concerned with the day Just chasing the ghost of the feeling that melted away. He swore he was straight, but he was a low-life leech He’d stand in the kitchen, the lies were a part of his speech Look at his family, pulling the ultimate plea Said, "I'm starving and broke, just give me the money to eat..." He used their compassion, it became a precision machine A well-oiled system of theft, the most pitiful thief He wasn't hungry for dinner, he was hungry for the dust He traded the family name for a fix and a lack of all trust. He carried the cross of his failure, playing the victim's old game Every dollar he pocketed only compounded the shame. The dirtiest money was the cash from his own family's hand He shook his own kin down, broke every bond on demand. (Chorus) How could you leave us? ...We thought that you loved us! Trading your life and your kids for the poison above us. You swore you'd protect us, you swore you were sober and true Now all that is left is the shame and the damage you do... (Verse 2) Yeah, the woman he married, she thought she could weather the storm But he engineered the wreckage, the perfect, destructive form. He brought her down with him, a deliberate, sickening choice, She thought she was taking the pep pill, suppressing her voice. It wasn't about hiding, it was weaponized trust, you see? He crushed up the crystal and swore that it was Ritalin B. He'd look her right in the eyes, swear he was helping a friend But the friend was the dealer, a dark conversation with sin. He manufactured the patient, then acted the pious physician Giving prescriptions for death, ignoring the cold contradiction. That is not love, man, that is calculated deceit Destroying the person who thought that his life was complete. They cleaned out their savings, every withdrawal a disease Leaving two shells in the carpet, trying to catch air with no ease. He didn't just fall, he pushed her right down in the hole And watched as the meth finally ate every part of her soul. (Chorus) How could you leave us? ...We thought that you loved us! Trading your life and your kids for the poison above us. You swore you'd protect us, you swore you were sober and true Now all that is left is the shame and the damage you do... (Verse 3) Now here is the heavy part, the reason the agony stays He lost the two sons, man, stuck in that chemical daze. He was supposed to be the model, the father, the champion voice But he traded their future for powder, a sickening choice. They remember the whispers, the tension that hung in the air... The silence, the distance, the fact that he was never quite there. His oldest would ask him, "Where are you going, Dad, tell?" He'd lie to the boy's face, "I'm helping a friend who is unwell." He traded the sight of their smile, the comfort of being relied on For twenty minutes of silence, a desolate high he had lied on. The judge read the papers, the verdict was rigid and stark Said, "You’re an inherent danger, a stain on their future, a mark." He watches them now at a distance, a stranger, a pitiful thief He's nothing but smoke in the background, defined by his ultimate grief. That's the real cost, man, the reckoning, the sorrow he begs Couldn't equal the sight of those two little innocent legs Walking away, man, no backward glance, that's the drill He watched them go, knowing he signed their release on a thrill. (Bridge) So what do you do with that? When you hear the horrific confession... Do you think of forgiveness, or do you just think of aggression? You think he deserved it, you think that the sentence was fair That losing his family's the penance he needed to bear. But I told you the darkness, I laid out the cost and the price I showed you the sickness, the gamble, the roll of the dice. This story’s a warning, a mirror, a lesson in truth Before I reveal the face of the broken, this living proof... (Outro) I told you I knew a man, a manipulator and fraud I told you he robbed his own family, defying his God... I told you of how he, stood there to her face and lied to his wife... I told you he traded his two sons to ruin his life... You still following? ... The story's over... That man was me...
