I Am An Instrument

by Matthew Welde

up for days and nights on end

the friendship I forgot to mend

the letter I refused to send

not angry now, was angry then

the girls with which I played pretend

love was never my intent

come and go, came and went

i rolled like wheels on a corvette

would get the best that I could get

booze and drugs and cigarettes

i don’t know how to spell regret

i told myself don’t get wet

it’ll kill you like Russian Roulette

and the thought of death makes me upset

so I live fast to offset

the fact that one day I’ll be dead

and they’ll say he said just what he meant

and didn't die with any debt

the money i earned all got spent

it went to wild times and rent

the lifestyle I now represent

i’d like to somehow circumvent

the preacher says repent repent

but he’s not making too much sense

i don’t need a picket fence

or to spare no expense

but my neck and shoulders feel so tense

can’t rub together but two cents

wait now, hold on a sec

what do I need to invent?

what haven’t they come up with yet?

i’ll try and fail and try again

maybe I’ll get no respect

maybe I will elect

to continue this experiment

and change my course as I see fit

they’ll say it’s illegitimate

but what I want is intimate

alive and indiscriminate

surprisingly magnificent

do something that’s different

call it like I’m seeing it

i am just an instrument

singing 'neath the firmament