Just a Part of Life

Optimism was my middle name
Until this place I came to live.
Harsh realism is my actual name now
This place is more take than give.
It may sound a little cold
'Cause it truly is indeed
It's more or less take what you want
Than to actually take what you need.
Bumps in the road of life
You'll more than likely meet
Every time you leave your house
And step out into the mean street.
There's no way around it
It's just a part of life
You'll just have to learn to deal with it
Yet take the strain out of the strife.
Somehow you have to wonder
How grown folks could have known
That the harshness of street life
Was not something that was overblown.
That to a young country boy
Overwhelmed would have been the case
If he had gotten his wish
To long ago visit this place.
But hallaleujah for being older and wiser
One day the young boy would understand
That his parents weren't being overly protective
They were trying to insure he'd become a young man.
And so now I have to raise my own
In the midst of this once forbidden zone.
I just hope that I've learned enough
To guide them safely home.

composed by KCASR
2-8-02