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Bucket of Questions

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Bucket of Questions

I can't explain how you woke up this morning
I can't explain nothing
All I got is a bucket of questions
That multiply every time there's an question

My answers arrived with the hands that went to work everyday
So that the delicate lining in my belly
Would not have to hear the songs of empty pots

They arrived with the hands
That wiped uncertainty from my eyes
And fought off ghost
That I was certain would swallow me.

I was given the answers
Before I was old enough to ask the questions
I defended the answers
Before I was wise enough to confirm them.

Reciprocal love made me a charlatan

Momma gave me the legend of the chimney bandit
If she hadn't let me in on the joke
I would have been prepared
To put a door between myself and anyone else
Who would dare deny the existence of Santa Claus

I live with my back to the door
Using the weight of my insecurities
To close out any ideas
That might expose my code of wisdom
To be pretty words
Empty and hollow to the core

Resilient answers from the other side of the door
Escape through the cracks
I reach for my weapon of choice
The sharp edge of my reasoning
Will glide through a wrong answer
Like hot piss in the snow
But many times my blade comes back dull

So I can't explain how you woke up this morning
I can't explain nothing
All I got is a bucket full of questions
That multiply every time there's a question
And the world wasn't always so got-dam complicated

Chuck Perkins