Aggressive Steven

Got home one morning, maybe 10 o'clock

Grabbed a coffee, ran into my friend outside the hair salon

She said, she on her break, can she come up and roll a jay?

We'll say her name is Abby, though Abby is not her name

Okay, scan the FOB, talking neighborhood goss'

Elevator to a maze, it snake around to my spot

Before the key hit the lock, she was asking me, "Is that yours?"

Beside the door, a navy button down, balled up on the floor

Weird, I take a knee on some, "I do have one like it, but no"

And pick it up slow to reveal a few other items

Abbigail like, "Oh, that is certainly a tweaker's pile of stuff"

A realization that demand a weaker tea inside my cup

White noise hummin' in my ear to the wood

I hear the bath water running, something is clearly afoot

Someone is clearly inside, I look at Abby like, "I'm going in

Maybe you should stay here", she said, "No, I'm in," holy shit

Be cautious, keep calm

Sneak the door open, the apartment is tossed

Everything, everywhere, all at once, all the faucets are on

Let's draw the room, so you can better picture all that befalls

I got this loft, that when you walk in, the ceilings are pretty normal

Then a dozen feet later, it's twenty feet of beams and mortar

I inch in far enough to peak around that first corner

No sign of life in the bathroom, only debris and disorder

We baby stepping, seven feet in, where the kitchen begin

Records and books in the sink, the condition start to sink in

Another few to that rubicon, where the pad opens up

To see the answer to my questions in the rafters above

There is a man with no shirt on, wearing his pants around his ankles

Jungle gym-ing over both us, I mean we are talking angles

He's mumbling incoherently, there's something in his system

I'm processing, but need to make decisions, okay, let's go

"Hey! You need to get down right now"

Abby yelling, "Get the fuck down, and get out!"

He's on a different planet, drifting to a distant moon

I'm pretty sure he don't even know we are in the room

Hey, you need to get down right now

Get the fuck down and get out

You need to get down right now

Get the fuck down and get out

Hey, you need to get down right now

Get the fuck down and get out

Get the fuck down and get out

Get the fuck down and get out

This isn't working, the energy is berserk

And we're backing up to the hallway, then down to the office, nervous

"Yeah, hi, so there's a naked guy in my ceiling"

The staff look up at me tripping, like, "Oh my god, is it Steven?!"

Uh, who the fuck is fucking Steven?

Y'all seem to know some shit I don't, I ain't exactly meet him

The manager on some, "He and this building have got some history

We'll attempt to go and talk him down," but also called the city

Thirty go by, when the elevator ding

And drop a trio in the lobby, and heaven and nature sing

It's the manager, and super, with a man in my Nikes

Oh that's my leather too, ejected, but goddamn he look nice

Steven is glum and despondent, wafting a brutal bouquet

They sit him down on the sofa, he look confused and ashamed

But if I'm honest, also looks like he could pull out a blade

That's when two officers show up, and all is fully explained

Okay, the police are with Steven to see if he's even lucid

I'm on the other side of the lobby, completely stupid

The super and the manager finally get a sec

To offer some backstory 'bout this morning's events

They tell me Steven suffers from mental illness and drug addiction

His episodes have kept him in and out the shelter system

Some lady in the building used to give him her couch

But his condition led to far too many issues to count

He's even scaled up the building before and jimmied inside

And been aggressive with the tenants like infinity times

He not permitted on the premises, but this is your life

That's when the officer invited me to give him my side

I said, "Well, first of all, I ain't the one that called

But also we're like a meter from the player involved

I can brief you on the basics if the aim is resolve

But I ain't trying to agitate him if I say something wrong

How 'bout we move 10 feet around the corner to talk?"

He said, "I can't leave my partner alone with someone this gone"

Okay, uh, seems fast to be at an impasse

Then he pulled the pen and paper out, and this is what he ask

"Do you wanna be the victim?"

"What? No, I didn't want it, I'm not sure what you want"

"Do you want to be the victim?"

"Oh, you're doing a script

Over communing 'bout the nuance of a human at risk

How 'bout we skip to where you tell me what the future can hold?"

He said, "A felony B&E, and whatever he stole

We'd take him down to the jail and they'd put him back on the street

They just just ain't got the kinda resources a Steven would need"

I said, "He doesn't need a felony, he doesn't need a cell

There's gotta be a way to get him headed for some help"

He said, "Programs exist, but none of 'em work

It's either charge him with the crime, or feed him back to the earth"

That's the bleakest shit I ever heard

I don't even have the words

I'm 'bout to run, see what evil was done

I guess the jacket was a gift but he can leave in the dunks

Upstairs sucked, the cat's doing fine, the rest is just stuff

I just seen Steven eating lunch

ITS, it's the future