if we're not free

well, my dad was a sweeper!
he used my head to sweep up the floor
my mother was ambitious
and she always wanted more;
we lived in an old house
but didn't seem poor.
there was hot food on the table,
clean paint on the wall,
both parents were anxious,
believed in strict letters of the law
and when they said just do it
i had to see what it was they saw:
i drew airplanes on lined paper
but some of them burned
like stories around the neighborhood
and the hard lessons i learned.
i took to collecting stuff
like baseball cards of Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays;
kicking cans down the back roads while counting all the days
until i could leave home
like a rodeo cowboy hoping to roam
all by myself;
a young boy of the fifties
who had a flat top on his head,
i could hear my parents arguing while i
sat crying on my bed:
was it something that i said?
well, explain the piece of black coal in my Christmas box
and the heart that always locks
when i come inside for a hug
don't
push away and pull out the rug
from under me
and when you're doing a study of history
there's more to life than the pyramids;
there's wild boys like me,
who
don't know how to live if we're not free.
i drew airplanes on lined paper
but some of them burned
like stories around the neighborhood

and the hard lessons i learned
i took to collecting stuff
like baseball cards of Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays:
kicking cans down the back roads while counting all the days
until i could leave home
like a rodeo cowboy hoping to roam
all by myself;
a young boy of the fifties
who had a flat top on his head
i could hear my parents arguing while i
sat crying on my bed
was it something that i said?
well, explain the piece of black coal in my Christmas box
and the heart that always locks
when i come inside for a hug
don't
push away and pull out the rug
from under me
and when you're doing a study of history
there's more to life than the pyramids
there's wild boys like me,
who
 don't know how to live if we're not free.