Not Like His Old Man

He aced the test to gave him
To see how smart he is
To see if he's, you know, gifted
To see if he's in this percentile
Or that percentage
Or whatever

He's a genius
Not like his old man

This means he can get a job
Doing something other
Than hauling wood
Or cement blocks
Or other people's shit
All his life

He's going to make millions
Not like his old man

He's not going to smoke
Or drink or do drugs
Or get some girl pregnant
Two days after he gets
His college acceptance letter

To a lousy fucking school
But still, you know?

He's going to follow
Not like his old man

He's going to wear ties
And be good with computers
And speak four languages
And read books
And get shit done

He's going to be impressive
Not like his old man

The test says so
It says he's got it

He's got what you need
To get farther
That other people get
And thank God, you know?

Thank God for that

It's funny, you know
Because of all the things I wanted him to be
It never occurred to me
That I only really needed him
To be one thing
Just one

I needed him to be nothing like me

And it turns out he won't be

The test says so
It does

Thank God, you know?

Thank God