When I first left my home A young lad of seventeen I could not get farther faster Every new pasture was green When I first left my family Tired of being poor and sad I decided that going away Was the only real chance I had When I first left my city That bore, raised and nurtured me I couldn’t live there another day Its gritty streets forced me to flee When I first left my friends With whom I read, wrote and played I thought I would make new ones But soon my hopes began to fade When I first left my state Whose ways I had imbibed so well I had to find new experiences I had to learn new stories to tell When I first left my country Whose life was the only one I’d known I wanted money, fame, opportunity Oh how impatient I had grown I sit here now, a man with no home No family, no friends, no city, no state No country even to call his own Blaming his doings on innocent Fate “You only leave home once,” A wise man had said to me In a world that is full of people There’s no one left to hear my plea