Lucky Enough (Poem)

If I'm lucky enough, I'll see fogs lift with suns
As we roll to play a show in Carolina, Oklahoma or Chicago
I'll grow to know the road to home in places far away
Wrinkled, bald and beat to shit to never waste a day

Enough people will hate me that I know I did it right
But to never meet a human being that I say that I don't like
Let me learn the hard way and cut it close sometimes
That youth is the attic chest where every lesson lies

I'll have some kids and teach them that we are all the same
Sufferin', smilin', silhouettes of every passin' day
The love I have will always be something my friends yearn
My memories were never cheap and never easy earned
I hope to choke on Jack and Coke in a bar during a northern winter
On a night the band was tight and right as rooftop lights flicker

If I'm lucky enough, I'll understand losing someone close
I'll clench my teeth on New Year's Eve and try to talk to ghosts
I'll stumble through a market on a Sunday in June
Smell the salt and asphalt on Sunday afternoon
I reckon I'd be lucky if I made it half as far
To only die on hills that are closest to my heart

If I'm lucky enough, notebooks will be strewn across my room
I'll play catch on green grass where springtime flowers bloom
If I'm lucky enough, I'll tell the truth every chance I get
'Cause smiles faked to appease another is worth ten regrets

If I'm lucky enough, I will get through hard things
And they will make me gentle to the ways of the world
If I'm lucky enough, I'll have the courage to leave and go
Wherever my beatin' heart tells me to go

If I'm lucky enough, I'll get high and invite a guitar player over
And he'll play sweet notes until a New York City-rooftop Sun rises
I'll meet some kids in school that still know how to play instruments

If I'm lucky enough, I'll make it exactly to where I'm taking this breath now
Lay my head upon the earth and laugh at passing clouds
If I'm lucky enough, I'll remember the shaky things we’ve seen
Grab your beer through tears and fears, the great American bar scene