THE DEATH OF T. M. MAPLE

It's time to go, get up and get your bearings
You go get showered, I'll pick out what you're wearing
Don't look so sad or so confused
If everybody has to do it, so can you

This is the day you've been anticipating
No more holding back and no more waiting
Here're the instructions and the tools
Yeah, here's a list of expectations and the rules

I wish there'd been some way to know
I could have turned back long ago
And you're right -- I expect way too much out of life
And you're right -- I expect way too much out of life

So this is it, my future laid out before me
Where all the ads have my reactions for me
It's hard not to feel misled
It's not exactly what the travel agent said

While I was sitting at the breakfast table
I read about the death of T. M. Maple
I think that's the moment that I knew
All along I'd been prepped to play the fool

I wish there'd been some way to know
I could have turned back long ago
And you're right -- I expect way too much out of life
And goodbye, T. M. Maple, goodbye

I've said goodbye to all my friends and family
So take a ride and have your men unhand me
What kind of pseudo-life is this?
Forget fulfillment, it's a fight to just exist

I'll never claim the world owes me a living
But what it's asking for I won't be giving
So take your rent and overtime
And you can stick it where the sun is guaranteed to never shine

Guaranteed to never shine
Guaranteed to never shine
Guaranteed to never shine


© Joshua C. Davis