156 lines
3.9 KiB
Plaintext
156 lines
3.9 KiB
Plaintext
Another shooting on the south-east side
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This a drive-by, mid-day
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Outside of the bus stop
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By Fuller and Franklin, or near there
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Not far from the park
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About a block from where
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The other shooting was last month
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Or was it last week?
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Shots were fired from an SUV
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Heading northbound, Eastown
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The target, a rival
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But they didn't hit the target this time
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They hit a kid we think
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Had nothing to do with it
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And I travel backwards
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Through time and space, and
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I disintegrate, become invisible
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I want to see it
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Where I couldn't when it happened
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I want to see it all
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First hand this time
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I want to know what it felt like
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So I float behind police lines
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Reconstruct the scene in fragments of memories
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I want to know what his mother looked like up close
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I want to see her leaning over his body
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So I float there, transcend time
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I want to capture it accurately
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I want to know what the color of the blood was
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Spilling out from the tarp onto the concrete
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I want to write it all down
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So I can always remember
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If you could see it up close
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How could you ever forget
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How senseless death
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How precious life
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I want to be there
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When the bullet hit
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And the crowd poured out
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As the shots drowned
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Into siren sounds
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Out of their houses now
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And over front yards
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All the way up to the place
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Where the police tape ran
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To mark the crime scene
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Everybody trying to catch a glimpse
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Of what was happening, of what was going on
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Between the ambulance, and all the cop cars
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Everybody gossiping, "Whose kid got hit?
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Where'd it hit him, and who could've fired it?"
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Everybody wondering, "How did it happen again?
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And is he dead? These children, our kids"
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Everybody wondering how far they were
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From where the victims lived
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And I visit them, their houses
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Inside my dream I visit them
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My spirit, soaring high and high
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Up over King Park, leaves the crime scene
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Travels further back, till far before the shooting
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Through their windows, to their living rooms
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I see them younger this time
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Playing games and doing homework
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All these marks of youth
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Soon transformed coldly into stone
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For fights and stupid feuds
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For ruins wrapped in gold, and
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Cruelly, I recall
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Why I have come
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To find a reason
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But there cannot be a reason
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Not for death, not like this
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Not like this
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Three days later, they made funeral plans
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The family
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Three days later, a mother
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Had to bury her son
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Not far away, the shooter
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Holed up in a hotel
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Near to the highway
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With a friend and the gun
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That same gun
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He'd fled immediately
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But was identified by witnesses
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His picture on TV
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Only 20 years old; they called him Grandpa
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He was older than the others
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By a year, maybe two, and
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He was safe for awhile
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Until somebody saw him there
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And notified the authorities
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Who surrounded the hotel
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First arresting an accomplice
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While attempting to flee
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Then chasing him up the staircase
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To the floor where he'd stayed
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He closed the door hard behind him
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Locked himself in the room
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They could've kicked in the door
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But knew the gun was still with him
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One he'd already used
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And so they feared what he'd do
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I floated up through the window
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Of a room to the west
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I hovered out to the hallway
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Tried to listen in
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I heard them trying to reason
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Get him to open the door
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His uncle begging and pleading
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Half-collapsed to the floor
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He preached of hope and forgiveness
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Said, "There is always a chance
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To rectify what you've taken
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Make your peace in the world"
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I thought to slip through the door
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I could've entered the room
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I felt the burden of murder
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It shook the earth to the core
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Felt like the world was collapsing
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Then we heard him speak
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"Can I still get into heaven if I kill myself?
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Can I still get into heaven if I kill myself?
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Can I ever be forgiven cause I killed that kid?
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It was an accident, I swear it wasn't meant for him!
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And if I turn it on me, if I even it out
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Can I still get in or will they send me to hell?
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Can I still get into heaven if I kill myself?"
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I left the hotel behind, don't want to know how it ends
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_______________
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Name King Park
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Artist La Dispute
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Album Wildlife
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