My name is Michael Joe Alexandre
I've been a queer since the day I was born.
My family, they don't say much to me,
my heart knows their silence has scorn
My friends have been dying, all my best friends are dead
I walk around these days, with their picture in my head
spending my time thinking 'bout the things they say
I don't know whats happening to me, goddamn HIV
And I don't know what all this means
I don't think it means what it seems
We used to party all night 'til the dawn
I can still see the boys with their tight leather on
in the downtown bars, where it always is night
I can hang with my friends 's still allright
I was 30 when the thickness first came
and it rode through my world like a wind driven flame.
Leaving ashes, memories, funerals and pain
and I don't know what's happening to me, goddamn HIV
And I don't know what all this means
I don't think it means what it seems
When I was a boy I get scared at night
My momma would come, turn on the light
But there's nobody here with me tonight
and I don't know what's happening to me
sometime at dusk I walk the train track
and I walk and I walk but I ain't coming back
I look at the sky so endless and black
men I swear its swallowing me
goddamn HIV