Not a Man, Said the Man

[This is a song I came up with last night after dropping someone off at the bus station. What spurred me to write is, on the one hand, a friend's claim that advancing my life in a certain way would "help me", and, on the other hand, the awareness that this friend has advanced that way… and yet does no better than I do in practical matters the advancement allegedly improve.

It is a Jim Croce, Leonard Cohen type lilting folk song, with 1/2 meter.]

I'm not a lonely man
Said the lonely man
with a phone clutched on his knee
I'm not an angry man
said the angry man
with a hammer in his hand

And we aren't who we are
if we say we aren't
until we see what others see
And we aren't who we are
if we say we aren't
until we see what others see

I'm not a crazy man
said the crazy man
with a squeegee up his sleeve
I'm not a selfish man
said the selfish man
with himself only in his sights

And we aren't who we are
if we say we aren't
until we see what others see
And we aren't who we are
if we say we aren't
until we see what others see

I'm not a greedy man
said the greedy man
with a scalpel in your eye
No, I'm not a prideful man
assured the snide little man
to himself one more time

And we aren't who we are
if we say we aren't
until we see what others see
And we aren't who we are
if we say we aren't
until we see what others see

In the crosshairs of that light
We can stand or again, again take flight
In the shadow of that glory
We can cower or sing, and sing a new story

Methinks he protests too much
But he thinks he keeps his cool
She says he insists too much
but he says it's just heart on his sleeve

Yes, we are who we are
though we say we aren't
cuz we can't see what others see
Yes, we are who we are
though we say we aren't
cuz we can't see what others see

I'm not a dying man
said the ashen man
as he faded into black
I'm not a righteous man
said the righteous man
in the darkness on his knees
I'm not a giving man
said the empty man
with himself in your veins

You're not a you tell me man
I told you, You Tell Me Man
Because I see what you can't see
I'm not a I tell you man
You hear me well, man
Because my nose is unseen to me
We're not a truthful bunch
That's what the tree reveals
Cuz in gift we are true, only