Then I'll Be Smiling

Trailed by a mess Of masking tape construction paper And the best of intentions He tried to patch up every hole as he went Back and forth and back again And his friends half full of half concerns Embarrassed looks and tired words They burrowed deeper into the ignorant Little lives they preferred And he envied their distance Their lack of concern He thought, Once I shed the whole of me Once I shed the whole of me Then I'll be smiling He cursed himself And his instinct to nurse Every idea to health And all of the falls that he'd spent Trying to coax his name from the mouths