Don Conoscenti

i am just a shy little kid.
seven years old.  i got a jar with a lid
i put grass in the bottom, holes in the top
come see all the lightning bugs
that i have caught

i love a girl who's pretty and sweet
every day i go and stand on her street
but she doesn't come by,
she doesn't know i exist
i hope when i grow up love isn't like this

i go out to play if i finish my chores
trade empty bottles for gum at the store
fight with my brothers
though i don't know what for
i wish that my mom and dad
could get along like before

i don't like school
cos the nuns are so mean
they slap me around for the silliest things
sister mary loneliness always likes to say
that when i grow up
I'm gonna thank her someday

I'll thank her for teaching me to feel incomplete
to feel i'm no good, not to trust what i think....
for teaching me to be afraid of mistakes
i hope that i never grow up if that's what it takes