And I'm back It hasn't been long How can you miss me if I'm never gone But I'm always gone I'll get to that soon Happy birthday boy break out the balloons Float Try to let your sense of self go Forgive yourself for all the things you didn't know I didn't know much I didn't know that I didn't know though That's the story of my life so Forty Now I'm on my middle age shit Like dropping rap records If you got the fiddle play it And I know that kid will say shit The one inside of me That felt he wasn't good enough But I got here in spite of me And I'm not trying to be Anything at all I think this in a vacuum so I sing it to the wall Yeah echoes down the hall Six months later I'm recording this verse But it's just a few seconds in the headphones It's unstable time in the universe You adjust new check in to the dead zone We wanna live long But I imagine It all goes by in an instant Whether you live to not recognize yourself In the mirror or you die as an infant When I say I'm always gone that's only half right I always am but I forget Start to get caught up in being here past life Change the lane don't get upset But I'm always gone I cease to be I begin to notice there's no me My ego in protest suddenly Starts to grow and puts on a little show And on bad days I believe that the story's pain is serious And when I meditate alot I see it for the game it really is I never left But I have been gone And back so many times It's old hat big yawn But that piece that is the constant Is confident That there's a few more ways to share the message stopping it From the muzzle of self doubt So it might be heard That's why I write these words Yeah Organized the beats too This is me at forty Hi It's nice to meet you

I am born in every age And the thing they don't tell you about getting older is it doesn't feel like a page Is being turned Or that you've earned Another trip through holidays No you're just stuck on the same sentence While your hair is going grey Letting it pass you by is a natural state But that doesn't make it logical who can relate We all go through the same process but since we're different places on the paper We think we're the only one whose faith's begun to waver So I will savor every single day Each moment of tedium that's found along the way Each fleeting glance of paradise transcending what I say Chop wood and carry water do it now without delay

Watch how the ship sails Over the sea waves See how the wind takes us right back to shore Beginnings and endings they remain the same The time in between shakes us to our core I wanna to be your Shelter from storm So that's what I'm trying to be but It's the norm That I'm the warning siren huh Post traumatic stress disorder Via nine/eleven Could that still be effecting me? I find the ending Rather daunting I know I'm not alone in this Back here haunting I show I'm barely grown I wish This ship would simply right itself and stop here Been through enough call it a career I need my help I'm the Flipside of a riptide Send you back to land Lend a helping hand Sculptures in the sand When the tide comes in We'll let it wash away We'll just ride one in Flowing with the wave And yeah it fades away And yeah that's okay You get a short time It's all your birthday It's all a moment It goes by so fast Don't try to own it Don't let it slip past Just be there with it That's all you can do Just surrender I understand you

Let the rain fall Of course it will When the storms come that is not surprising You are vibing you are finding all the ways that you are thriving But that doesn't mean life's always seeming perfect There are moments When you fall down But I need you to remember you are worth it Through dark and stormy weather We'll always be together Just take my hand and we will be alright

I'm gone I am gone I am gone straight away I'm gone I am gone Life's a game that we play My identity is this that another thing I split that another king Is dethroned now that he's home It's a southern thing no It's a northern thing oh It's a black it's a white It's a left it's a right Identity it's politics It's nonsense intolerance it's labels we created To divide the loved and hated It's a temporary stop along the path it isn't fixed I'm a 40 year old man I'm a 14 year old kid I'm a teacher I'm a writer I'm a singer meditator You's a hater these are separators from the great creator These are moments we've allowed ourselves to buy into the hype That just to be is not enough But to be someone is right It's just a space suit