Only A joke.

"It was only a joke"
"It was only a joke"

If it was only a joke.
Then tell me why
he was choked, coughed and screaming
in his own blood.

Tell me why,
to fight for his 'hood'?
He swore he never would
Because tonight
when we visit his grave.

He will not wake

Nor tommorow,
or the next.
Seems like alot to pay for
To where a peice of cloth
Seems alot to pay for
rolling up your socks.

He was walking down the street
Oblivious to the pain he would meet.
For waiting round' the ben
Was the Grim Reaper,
in a dark hood pulled up to his chin.

He never knew he was in a gang.
He wore his clothes with pride, no shame.
Just as his daddy taught him
He never once wanted that shamefull sin.
Thats when they decided to play with his life.
To pull him around with a switchblade knife.

And when he ran away
It was cat and mouse
"Oh, What a game to play!"

They said it was just a little fun
Underneath the streetlight tuscan sun.
But when dawn came
they said it was only a game.
A game he didn't choose.
A game he could only lose

His family weeped
His friends fell deep
Thanking god for the memories they keep
But especially the one they don't have.
Of him dodging a metallic jeep.

They dropped roses on the coffin
Everyone completely lost in
Thoughts and regrets, things they never said.
Lost completely in a world of dread.

Because if one boy could have been beaten 'to the core'
Because of just the clothes he wore,
Then what would happen
Next time they where on the street?
Would it ever be safe? Or would they stay?
Obsolete.

So they got off with just probation
6 months a short time to think of
all the games you could be playin'

Oh, you really can hurt a bloke
But never when its "only a joke"