Road Of Riches

The motive was to work till a fortune of size grew

With which a life of leisure by reason would ensue

From which no turn of hardship would threaten to undo

To sacrifice the short to invest in the long view

And so it went, the hours and weekends they pushed through

A family full of ghosts but the payoff would yield huge

Till decades down the line this epiphany stung true

They’d raised their worth along with a son that they never knew

They ride, they ride

They chasing crescents in the sky but they hold only a vision

They ride

They riding toward the sheen of an image

They ride that road to riches

Right past a road of riches

Road to riches

They’d gather at the park always after class

Where troubles of the youth never seem to last

And fantasize of things that they hoped to have

How they would all be famous signing autographs

They’d let out a laugh

But one boy among ‘em, this meant more than he showed

Cuz absentee parents always left him alone

So love and adoration wasn’t something he’d known

And he was adamant that someday he would have it in droves

And so it was, celebrity life came to pass

With followers and all the acclaim that you could ask

But something was amiss, it still eluded his grasp

He missed belonging like those days at the park that he’d had

They ride, they ride

They chasing crescents in the sky but they grasp only the vision

They ride

They riding toward the sheen of an image

They ride their road to riches

Right past this road of riches

They ride

Only they hold a vision

Just an image

They ride, they ride

Riding the road to riches

They ride, they ride

Just an image

Chasing crescents in the sky

They’re riding a road to riches

I ride, I ride

I’m riding that road of riches

They ride for that pot of gold

As they’re blinded by their obsession

Racing toward a rainbow engaged in a fool’s errand

Dogged in pursuit there’s no altering their perception

Till they spin out at the bend and they wake up inside the trenches

And this the moral them fables had failed to mention

Many fall to ruin succeeding in their objectives

Realized opportunities flourish among the wreckage

When goals are selected, but methods are ignored

When misaligned incentives undermine a greater cause

When shadows of perspective cloak the end you’re working towards

Like movements of the heavens that the senses don’t regard

These moments pass ‘em by, their own precession of the stars

So put to work all the lessons that you can draw

To reach out for the moon let it capture you from afar

As seams of perfection are sewn with the silk of flaws

The riches that you seek are existent right where you are