My Bridge

“Hey man, can you spare some change?”
a fellow asked me the other day
while I was strolling down the street
and wandered into this fellows beat.

“No pal” came a swift reply
“I got nothing to give,” was my standard lie
’cause I did have something to give this man,
But it wasn’t a gift from my pocket to his hand.

The gift I had to give away
is the story of a life on another day,
A story of a place I used to live,
A place called home – under my bridge.

In a town called Houston, just out of downtown
runs I-59, headed southbound;
and under that freeway
(where tens of thousands of cars passed overhead)
I lived a life so empty
I might as well have been dead.

I stayed in that place that I called home
for three cold months one winter long,
in the back of an old beat up Chevrolet,
not out of the cold, just the wind and the rain.

Then one day when I woke up
I’d decided that I’d had enough
of long, and cold, and hungry nights:
An empty life filled with cheap wine.

I was tired of taking a shit on the street,
I was tired of life – Man!, I was beat.
And when I looked long and hard and deep inside
there wasn’t a shred of personal pride.

So I gathered up those few things that I owned
and I started a journey to find my way home.
The first stop on my way was those Hare Krishna guys,
(That’s the honest to God’s truth – don’t look so surprised.)

They fed me and taught me how to dance and sing,
they gave me a blanket and a place to sleep.
And every day I had a little job to do,
out hustling books to folks like you.

After I while I got a real job,
and I left those Krishna guys,
and every day, for minimum wage,
I was out on the street – driving.

I showed up for work, never missed a day,
I was happy to earn that minimum wage,
’cause it gave me a chance to get out and live
far and away from my old home – My Bridge.

I could ride the bus to work,
eat beans and rice every day.
I was living high on the hog,
and learning to live, “Just for Today”.

When I was a kid I dropped out of school,
now I was older and realized the fool
that I had been, trying to be so cool –
So I decided to go to night school.

And I learned again about nouns and verbs,
about algebra and bees and birds,
and two years later I walked away
from that tired old job that paid minimum wage.

‘Cause I had an EDUCATION!
I went to work for a CORPORATION!
where I wore slacks and shirts and a tie every day,
and taking home a lot more than minimum wage.

Now I can put a decent roof overhead
instead of an old rusted out Chevy flatbed,
and every now and then I break down and send
a few bucks to a little girl that calls me Dad.

And life ain’t grand.
And life ain’t sweet.
But I gotta tell ya pal
it beats the hell outta the street.

So don’t come around and panhandle me,
and don’t give me a line of crap,
’cause I know it’s a line, I know it’s a lie,
YOU! are the one that’s built your trap.

If I give you a buck or two right now
and you go buy another bottle of wine,
ain’t neither one of us done a goddamn thing
to help you change your life.

But I promised a gift, I’ll give it to you now,
(I just wonder if it’s one you’ll take)
look deep inside, find some personal pride,
get rid of the greed and hate.

Find a course to take in your life,
take ONE – LITTLE – STEP at a time.
Don’t give no worry about the little shit man,
It’s a long way down, and a long hard climb.

You’re gonna fall down.
You’re gonna wanna quit.
You’re gonna think this is so much shit.
Oh! – Let me look back, lest I forget…
There’s a place I once called home.

My Bridge.

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