The Genetics Lottery
Nobody holds the ticket before the draw,
nobody picks the skull under the skin,
the height, the eyes, the way your jaw
either opens doors or watches them stay shut.
Nobody holds the ticket before the draw,
nobody picks the skull under the skin,
the height, the eyes, the way your jaw
either opens doors or watches them stay shut.
The genetics lottery is the original score.
Some men pull aces, some pull plain cards,
some men get faces that pay rent
in every room they walk into.
The lottery dealing its regards
to the lucky and unlucky in the same old draw.
I tell myself that doesn’t stop the comparing—
against the man who got the face worth wearing
through a life that looks easy from where I stand,
the genetics lottery running every day.
I’ve played my hand the best that it could play,
shown up with what I was given,
built a life I’m actually living.
But the genetics lottery was real and clear—
it got him from here, and I know where that is.