Shane Koyczan - The Crickets Have Arthritis lyrics

It doesn’t matter why I was there
Where the air is sterile and the sheets sting
It doesn’t matter that I was
Hooked up to this thing
That buzzed and beeped every
Time my heart leaped
Like a man whose faith tells him:
God's hands are big enough
To catch an airplane

Or a world

Doesn’t matter that I was curled up
Like a fist protesting death
Or that every breath was either
Hard labor or hard time
Or that I’m either always too hot or too cold
It doesn’t matter because my hospital
Roommate wears star wars pajamas
And he’s nine years old



His name is Louis

And I don’t have to ask what he’s got
The bald head with the
Skin and bones frame speaks volumes the
Gameboy and feather pillow booms like
They’re trying to make him feel at home
‘cuase he’s gonna be here a while

I manage a smile the first time I see him and
It feels like the biggest lie I’ve ever told
So I hold my breath
Cause, I’m thinking any minute now he’s
Gonna call me on it i hold my breath
Cuase I’m scared of a fifty seven
Pound boy hooked to a machine, becuase
He’s been watching me, and maybe I’ve
Got him pegged all wrong, like

Maybe he’s bionic or some shit
So I look away

Like I just made eye contact with
A gang member who’s got
A rap sheet the length of
A lecture on dumb mistakes
Politicians have made i look away
Like he’s gonna give me
My life back he minute I’ve
Got something to trade
I damn near pull out my pack and say

Cigarette?

But my fear subsides in the
Moment I realize Louis is all about show and
Tell he’s got everything
From a shot gun shell to a crows foot and
He can put them all in context like:

See, this is from a shooting range and

See, this is from a weird girl

I watch his hands curl around a
Cuff link and a tie
Tack and realize that every nick
Knack is a treasure and
Every treasure’s got a story and
Every time I think I
Can’t handle more he hit's me
With another story says:

See, this is from my father see
This is from my brother see
This is from that weird girl
See this is from my
Mother it took me two days to figure out that
That weird girl, is his sister

Took him about two hours today after she left
For him to figure out he missed her

They visit every day and
Stay well passed visiting
Hours because for them that term doesn’t
Apply but when they do leave Louis and
I are left alone and he says
The worst part about being sick is you
Get all the free ice cream you
Ask for and he says the worst part
About that is realizing that there’s

Nothing more they can do for you he says:

Ice Cream can’t make every thing ok

And there’s no easy way of asking and
I already know what he’s gonna say
But maybe he just needs to say it
So I ask him any way
Are you scared? Louis doesn’t even lower
His voice when he says

Fuck yeah

I listen to a nine year old
Boy say the word Fuck
Like he was a thirty year old man
With a nose bleed being lowered
Into a shark tank
He’s got a right to it and if it
Takes this kid a curse word to
Help him get through it
I want to teach him to swear like the devil
Was sitting there taking notes with a pen
And a pad but before I can forget that
Louis is nine years old he says:

Please, don’t tell my dad

He asks me if I believe in angels

And before I realize I don’t have the heart
To tell him, I tell him Not lately, and
I just lay there waiting for him to hate
Me but he doesn’t know how to
So he never does

Louis loves like a man who lived in
A time before god gave religion
To men and left it to them
To figure out what hate was

He never greets me with silence
Only smiles and a patience
I’ve never seen in someone
Who knows they’re dying
And I’m trying so hard not to remind him
I’ll be out of here in a couple of days
Smoking cigarettes and taking my life for
Granted and he’ll still be
Planted in this bed
Like a flower that refuses to grow
I’ve been with him for five days
And all I really know is Louis
Loves to pull feathers out
Of his pillow, and watch them
Float to the ground
Almost as if he was the philosopher inside
Of the scientist ready to say
That it's gravity that’s been getting us
Down but the truth is

There’s not enough miracles to go around kid

And there’s too many people petitioning
God for the winning
Lotto ticket and for every
Answered prayer there’s a
Cricket with arthritis
And the only reason we can’t find
Answers is the search party didn’t invite us
And Louis right now the
Crickets have arthritis

So there is no music

No symphony of nature swelling to crescendos
As if we bent halo’s into melodies that could
Keep rhythm with the way our hearts beat
So we must meet silence with the
Same level of noise that
The parents of dying nine year
Old boys make when
They take liberties in talking with
Heaven we must shout until
We shatter in our own vibrations
Then let our lives

Echo, and grow echo, and grow
Echo, and grow

Grow distant

Grow distant enough to know that as far as
Our efforts go we don’t always get
A reply but I swear to whatever god
I can find in the time
I have left I’m gonna remember you kid
Gonna tell your story as often as
Every story you told me, and every time
I tell it I’ll say see

There’s bravery in this world

There’s 65 billion people curled up
Like fists protesting death, but
Every breath we take has to be given back
A nine year old boy taught me that

So hold your breath the same way you’d
Hold a pen when writing thank you
Letters on your skin to every tree that
Gave you that breath to hold
Then let it go as if you understand something
About getting old and having to give back
Let it go like a laugh attack in
The middle of really good sex

The black eye will be worth it

Because what is your night worth
Without a story to tell
And why wield a word like worth
If you’ve got nothing to sell
People drop pennies down a wishing well
As if the cost of
A desire is equal to that of a thought but
If you’ve got expectations expect
Others have bought
Your exact same dream for the price of the
Hard work, hang in, hold on mentality
Like I accept any challenge so challenge me
Like

I’ve brought a knife to this gun fight
But other night I mugged a mountain so
Bring that shit I’ve had practice

Louis and I cracked this world
Wide open and found
The prize inside because we
Never lied to ourselves
Never told ourselves it would
Be easy or undemanding
So we sing in our own vibration and
Dare angels to eavesdrop and stop
Midflight to pluck feathers from their wings
And write demands on gods hands

Take the time to catch you

So that even if god doesn’t
It wasn’t because we didn’t try

I don’t often believe in angels
But on the day I left Louis
Pulled a feather from his pillow and
Said this is for you

I half expected him to say

See, this is the first one I grew