The Laughing Boys

from The Age Of Crying by Julian Cartwright

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lyrics

In starlight or opaque dark,
the laughing boys start.
These laughs of theirs might
circle back to girls, ears open.
This they hope for years,
miserable boys.
One of their only joys
is written by the fear
that a girl will never hear.
And she’ll never know
his hollow joys.

She is put off, she’s annoyed.
She knows that he is unemployed.
And, drinking from a can,
she knows he is not yet a man.
And further, fearing her heart’s mistake,
she knows her heart would have to break.

Selfish and haggard,
he drinks himself into a swagger.
He is pissed, he is shy,
needs the love of other guys.
Laughs himself sick on a weekend.
Wakes up on asphalt or brick at 3:10.
He needs a tall, heady potion.
His heart is already broken.

In sunlight or simulated dawn,
because the floodlights are still on,
the laughing boys quit out of sickness.
They are boys learning to be men,
innocence not taken but spent.
Nick lost at Poker last Sunday.
Had to give up all of his pot money.
It was so God-damned funny.

credits

from The Age Of Crying, released March 24, 2015

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about

Julian Cartwright New Jersey

Julian Cartwright is a songwriter, instrumentalist, composer and arranger based in the Philadelphia area. Instagram @julian.cartwright.songs

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