Road to riches

The motive was to work till a fortune of size grew
With which a life of leisure by reason would ensue
From which no turn of hardship would threaten to undo
To sacrifice the short to invest in the long view
And so it went, the hours and weekends they pushed through
A family full of ghosts but the payoff would yield huge
Till decades down the line this epiphany stung true
They’d raised their worth along with a son that they never knew


They ride, they ride
They chasing crescents in the sky but they hold only a vision
They ride
They riding toward the sheen of an image
They ride that road to riches
Right past a road of riches


Road to riches

They’d gather at the park always after class
Where troubles of the youth never seem to last
And fantasize of things that they hoped to have
How they would all be famous signing autographs
They’d let out a laugh
But one boy among ‘em, this meant more than he showed
Cuz absentee parents always left him alone
So love and adoration wasn’t something he’d known
And he was adamant that someday he would have it in droves
And so it was, celebrity life came to pass
With followers and all the acclaim that you could ask
But something was amiss, it still eluded his grasp
He missed belonging like those days at the park that he’d had

They ride, they ride
They chasing crescents in the sky but they grasp only the vision
They ride
They riding toward the sheen of an image
They ride their road to riches
Right past this road of riches


They ride
Only they hold a vision
Just an image
They ride, they ride
Riding the road to riches
They ride, they ride
Just an image
Chasing crescents in the sky
They’re riding a road to riches
I ride, I ride
I’m riding that road of riches


They ride for that pot of gold
As they’re blinded by their obsession
Racing toward a rainbow engaged in a fool’s errand
Dogged in pursuit there’s no altering their perception
Till they spin out at the bend and they wake up inside the trenches
And this the moral them fables had failed to mention
Many fall to ruin succeeding in their objectives
Realized opportunities flourish among the wreckage
When goals are selected, but methods are ignored
When misaligned incentives undermine a greater cause
When shadows of perspective cloak the end you’re working towards
Like movements of the heavens that the senses don’t regard
These moments pass ‘em by, their own precession of the stars
So put to work all the lessons that you can draw
To reach out for the moon let it capture you from afar
As seams of perfection are sewn with the silk of flaws
The riches that you seek are existent right where you are