Sentimental retardation
Slipping back to an earlier time
Life was gentle, a brain vacation
All loans were above sub prime
It’s easy to regress
When life becomes a mess
In coping with distress
Folks tend to thinking less
So rarely we address
The cause of untold stress
The desire to repress
Our need for our progress
If fairly we assess
The thinking we suppress
We’re bound to acquiesce
Youth is where we obsess
When we were so much younger
Somebody had our backs
They gave us food and shelter
Perhaps some well earned smacks
They made all our decisions
Gave us all that we did own
The reward of supplication
We didn’t have to be alone
When you fill your head with sentiment
Don’t wonder where the present went
So backwards we drift
To the wiles of the past
Such comfort in the familiar is found
The present’s a gift
A lifetime amassed
For those lucky enough to still be around
When memories we sift
It all moves so fast
The pressures at present still tend to confound
Reach back for a lift
The present can’t last
Embracing the comforts of recurring sound
Oh baby, I love you
The only thing I wanna do
Breaks my heart to know we’re through
The looking glass
Seeing a world that doesn’t exist
The working class
Cling to the present that they missed
Repeated endlessly
It’s fucking pointless to resist
Defeated mindlessly
I’m afraid they’ll just insist
When you fill your head with sentiment
Do you wonder how your time is spent
The unknown is just so damned scary
We hearken then unto the known
Even when it’s legendary
Great tales have lives of their own
No reason then to be contrary
To sentiment humans are prone
We’ve seen it’s become customary
To leave such sleeping dogs alone
To limit the vocabulary
And so maintain a civil tone
Nostalgia becomes necessary
For needed changes to postpone
When you fill your head with sentiment
Mark outside with ash for Lent
Why do we have churches
No God could be that dumb
Tradition sustains them
To pluck the priestly plum
Why do we have kings
None prove they’re God appointed
Tradition their position
Through stupidity anointed
Why are we still racists
We still can’t figure out
Tradition fosters ignorance
Seems it’s what we’re all about
Why do we still show up for war
Certainly we’ve learned
Tradition lights the values
On which we all are burned
When you fill your head with sentiment
You empty it to some extent
© 2011