When Everything is Wrong

When Everything is Wrong

when you don't know
what you are
or
if you do
and you're still
not loved
and you have no clue
how to be loved
how to get love
or even where
to find an answer

when you see
everybody else
with the experience
you lack
is just as fucked
as you are
you can still pretend
everything's
alright

you must try
holding on
even though
you're just a kid
struggling
to keep it all together
stuck
just like them
in their lord of the flies
playground
with your youth
ravaged
and molested
as a civilian casualty
of their war

you might as well
start trying now
to keep it together
cause it won't matter
even with their money
God
sex
love
politics
and booze
the older
and wiser
generation's
barely
keeping it together
with a laundry list 
of pills and bills
of uncertainties
and regrets
barely
keeping their shit together
any better
for themselves
than you 
are keeping it together
for yourself

it's the sorta thing
of suicide
and insanity
knowing
you're fucked
yet pretending
otherwise

a shame
at such an early age
just like them
knowing
accepting
denying
that nothing
but pretending
is all 
that's gonna
get you
through

but know
it's their dirty little secret
from pride and ego
they'll never admit
to their own failure
so they'll try pounding you
into conformity
of the same ways
of failure
just to prove
failure
is the only way

and another
dirty little secret
they're never gonna give up
the stranglehold
on their hard-earned privilege
to tell
but never
be told

at least
in your youth
you've got
a little more time
than them
for figuring it out
better
and you've still
got some stamina
for finding a way to sing
instead of scream
in the coals