Cadence

Rattle, rattle, hiss

Rattle, rattle, hiss

Rattle, rattle, hiss

What a beautiful sound

 

This is the sound of my world

It’s all that can be heard

I love the way the wall changes with the mist

I love the pain from the cramp in my wrist

 

Rattle, rattle, hiss

Rattle, rattle, hiss

 

Hours go by

But only minutes pass

The world moves slowly

My heart beats fast

 

I’m not a hooligan

I’m not a thug

I’m just a junkie

Receiving my drug

 

Rattle, rattle, hiss

**Breath in**

 

I step back

Admire the bricks in a yellowish hue

Then my world stops

As they change red and blue

 

Rattle, zip, kick

Thug, squeak, crunch

 

I pick up my bag and begin to run

My work is finished, but the adventure has just begun

After all, in our town

This is how we have fun

 

A house key

Something I sorely lack

It’s a three story climb

Good thing I left the window cracked

 

Climb, creek, snore

Little did I know, there was an unlocked door

Even my fantasy

Is the same as my reality

 

Rattle, rattle, hiss

Rattle, rattle, hiss

 

Ring, ring, slam

Ring, slam, slam

 

Shower, coffee, bus

Homework in sharpie

Just because

The answer is my tag

 

Skipping school ‘cause

The B line runs at ten

Couldn’t pay attention anyway

Medicaid doesn’t cover Ritalin

 

Ecstatic as I see

The reply to my note

Attention all writers

How far does this freight go?

 

Yo, it’s Ghost from SDK crew

Represent Brooklyn, Trains is what I do

Also little man Saber

LA rail yard two

 

From Seattle to Boston

Chicago, Small town USA

Places I can’t find on a map

Even to this day

 

Places I can’t find

I have to get away from these streets

I mean the walls are mine

But public housing, it’s killing my mind

 

I have been to the house and back now

Bag by my side

Waiting, just waiting

Waiting for a ride

 

It’s here now

The time has come

As I sit on a grainer

I think from Washington

 

The breaks disengage, we travel

Over one track, the car starts to rattle

Over the next one and the next one and the next, next, next one

Now faster than a bullet out o’ the barrel on a gun

 

An air compressor releases

A power hiss

I had no idea my day

Would ever end like this

 

Rattle, rattle, hiss

Rattle, rattle, hiss

Rattle, rattle, hiss

 

People will search for me

They’ll curse my common name

Oh Joe Doe, he’s dead

He fell from a train

 

Or they’ll find

A successful “street artist”

Or a locked up felon

Murderer, the hardest

 

Or a drug smuggler

Last seen in Madrid

Or a working man

With a wife and a kid

 

Whoever I have

Will search and find

After they’re done mourning

Someone I’ve left behind

 

And that someone will know

That what I’ve got is better

Then surviving this dying city

And killer cold weather

 

Rattle, rattle, hiss

Rattle, rattle, hiss

Rattle, rattle, hiss