Old Man said hope ain’t nothin’ but a prayer to a god i don’t believe

i asked an Old Man how he got to live so long and he said to me don’t be careful with what you’ve got let the crop rot in the field let the clean water run let the weak feel your weight in the Alabama sun don’t be kind or humble or settled of heart bring to bear a heavy weapon before the static starts learn to lie and deceive and sleep easy with its sting walk with thieves run with murderers and curse the birds when they sing trust the god in your wallet and place your faith in a fiend and steal the bread from the mouths of the children as they bleed remember son that it’s only you whose needs be met live with these words and my long life you’ll get Old Man i said what kind of lies you tellin’ me long life a reward for waste and crime and greed he looked at his hands and the lines on his palms and he sat silent for a while and then his words fell real calm my reward for this life has been long years to bear witness to the seeds i have sown watch them die early long before they had grown or grow up too soon and find solace in a bottle in the money they spend or the pills that they swallow rest their head in a jail and live with the horrors within or in a mind whose fears make it no less a prison see them age with bitterness mean and saddled with sorrow go now son i got another grandchild’s funeral tomorrow