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you learned respect at the business end of his belt
your mother drank to drown out the rage
the world was too hard for the feelings you felt
the letters all danced on the page
you worshipped a god, who loves people like you
and was happy to damn all the rest
you stole the guns from your dad
a few of the dozens he had
lone gunman what made you so mad
you lost your job at the winn-dixie store
the cutback made the bookkeeper smile
you dropped out of school
no more why’s and what fors
no more stacks of worried notes in your file
after months playing halo, you cracked the top ten
you saw crosshairs on every forehead you’d meet
you dug a deep grudge
fed by fox news and drudge
lone gunman who made you the judge
i’m broken, and so very tired
the glue is melting, i’ve come unwired
i want out of this ocean of shame
but i’m held underwater by so much blame
all these bleedinghearts
who want to give my money to lazy strangers
well nobody ever helped me
so here I am at the parade
they’ll see the mistakes that they made
i’ll start with the girl
with red ribbons in her braids
you quit drugs and drinking,
but things still declined
your mind rotted the more you got clean
you started to stutter and speaking in rhyme
cursing faraway welfare queens
your voice grew strange,
your friends drew away
their compassion smothered by dread
a week before that day
the hospital turned you away
lone gunman someone had to pay
but he came from a good home
it seems a bad seed was sown
lone gunman all those chances you’ve blown
lonely gunman it’s nobody’s fault but your own