Styrofoam Plates

There's a saltwater film on the jar of your ashes I threw them to sea, but a gust blew them backwards And the sting in my eyes that you then inflicted Was par for the course, just as when you were living It's no stretch to say you were not quite a father But the donor of seeds to a poor, single mother That would raise us alone, we never saw the money That went down your throat through the hole in your belly 13 years old in the suburbs of Denver Standing in line for Thanksgiving dinner At the Catholic church, the servers wore crosses To shield from the sufferance plaguing the others Styrofoam plates, cafeteria tables Charity reeks of cheap wine and pity And I'm thinking of you, I do every year When we count all our blessings and I wonder what we're doing here You're a disgrace to the concept of family The priest won't divulge that fact in his homily And I'll stand up and scream if the mourning remain quiet You can deck out a lie in a suit, but I won't buy it I won't join in the procession that's speaking their piece Using five-dollar words while praising his integrity And just 'cause he's gone, it doesn't change the fact He was a bastard in life, thus a bastard in death, yeah