One time, in the middle
Of a Fez rAP mEETS pOETRY night
Sev came up to me and said he was 'Sailin
Away on the River of Life'

It really wasn't like him
He was a pretty down to earth kind of guy
Even if he did live almost entirely in his head
Where he was the richest, most talented, sexiest motherfucker 
	on earth

He's hit the stage as often as possible
As often as Bonz and I would let him
Bill always pushed him on us
And every once in a while he was
He came off as the richest, most talented, sexiest poet rapper 
	on the scene

And what he'd learn from that
Was to not repeat his success
But try some other dumb shit
Be boring sit on a chair read some boring prose

Tracie Morris, Edwin Torres, Samantha Coerbell and I
Had a Nuyorican Poets Cafe Live gig in Tempe
Sev had moved out to Phoenix to get his act together
And he was great, squiring us around

But he was out of his element, too
A Queens dude stuck in the desert
And when he came home, he'd hang
At the Mouth Almighty office wondering what to do next

And yes he was first in line for a part in the movie Slam
Because he was the real thing, the ur-rapper with talent a mile 
	wide
And a destructive streak a mile high, and a bitter cloud
He scratched his name in the desk, and prayed for a connection
He tore his soul apart to look for his soul
Died in the desert, so barren and cold
Not Sev style at all, Seventeen of the wild style, old school, 
	party style
River of Life style, in the swim of it, sailin on the river, 
	River of Life

Sonja and Tish, they say the same things to me
And we know it's true, it's true
It coulda been any one of us out there under that lonely starry 
	night
Drowning in the River of Life

In our own heads we're all the richest, sexiest, most talented 
	motherfuckers
on the block
And the little successes we scratch out are the empowering 
	rhythms that pull
up the sun in the am
And let us dance and fuck the night away till the break of 
	dawn pm
Just that Sev had a little bit more of the down'n'downer
And coulda used another hit or two of the out'n'outer

A little bit of all of us died that lonely night with our friend Sev,
Seventeen, Antonio
But some little bit of him will always live, too, live on in all of us
All of us dancers, all of us poets, all of us swimmers
All of us trying to stay afloat, Sailing in the River of Life