I was a boy
unknown to the world around me.
I learned my colors, shapes, and letters.
They taught us reading and writing,
something which I had no interest in.
I asked them why.
And they replied, "You'll see one day."
So they forced the knowledge down into my brain,
and I kept working.

I was a working student,
cramming for tests that I believed had no purpose.
I asked them why.
They replied, "You'll see one day.
When you have a house, a family, a job,
I promise you will be happy."
So I kept working.

I was a working man,
and I had a job.
But I was not happy.
I did not know that when they said the word happiness
that they referred to the numbers written on a piece of paper.
I asked them why.
They replied, "You'll see one day.
When you are no longer a working man,
everything that you have worked for will show."
So I kept working.

I am no longer a working man.
For this light that they promised me never sparked,
and only left me with the realization that I wasted my life.
I finally saw the truth.
I tried to be a free man,
but they forced me to become a worker,
just another worker.
And after my time as a boy,
a working student,
a working man,
and a non-working man,
I finally realize
I never lived one day as a free man.