Pity the Child #2 - Chess In Concert

When I was nine

I learned survival

Taught myself not to care

I was my single good companion

Taking my comfort there

Up in my room

I planned my conquests

On my own

Never asked for a helping hand

No one would understand

I never asked the pair that fought below

Just in case they said no

Pity the child who has ambition

Knows what he wants to do

Knows that hell never fit the system

Others expecting to

Pity the child who knew his parents

Saw them fight

Saw their love die before his eyes

Pity the child that wise

He never asked

Did I cause your distress

Just in case they said Yes

When I was twelve

my father moved out

Left with a whimper

Not with a shout

I didnt miss him:

He made it perfectly clear

That I was a fool

and probably queer

Fool that I was

I thought this would bring

Those he had left closer together

She made a move

the moment he crawled away

I was the last the woman told

She never let her bed get cold

Someone moved in

I shut my door

Someone to treat her

just the same way as before

I took the road of least resistance:

I had my game to play

I had the skill and all the hunger

Easy to get away

Pity the child with no such weapons

No defense

no escape from the ties that bind

Always a step behind

I never called to tell her all Id done

I was only her son

Pity the child

but not forever

Not if he stays that way

He can get all he ever wanted

If hes prepared to beg

Pity instead

the careless mother

What she missed

what she lost

when she let me go

And I wonder

does she know

I wouldnt call:

A crazy thing to do

Just in case she said Who