Legacy

December '61.
My dad's wages light.
Still on that salary
We, all four, could sleep tight.

Right now if you drank from
That very same well,
You'd need a run of luck
To score a bed in a trick hotel.

Is this the legacy of
Too much for too few
That I see?
The kind of legacy that's
Tossin' some good men
To their knees.

The 'great society's'
Maligned concrete cage
Sits dead and vacant now -
At least it kept out rain.

With all those corners cut
The cracks grow wide and near.
I heard some cash was saved
But where it's gone ain't clear..

Who goes down next I don't know.
I don't know nothin' anymore.
Tomorrow's legacy that's
Layin' in state
Awaits reprieve.

I always thought that when a man goes down
You do your best to pick him up.
But how can the milk of kindness trickle down
When it's syphoned off and cheats the cup?