Nobody came to my retirement party Nobody cares when you're on your way out Inconsequential and oh, so replaceable All along I thought I would've left with more than nothing to show I once was hailed as the prince of invention I once was cast as a modern Galois Nobody came to my retirement party All along I thought I would've left with more than nothing to show I place my things in a cardboard box Swiftly struck by a swivelling shard of the past Schoolyard voices swirling around The other kids: aspiring firemen and ballerinas Me: walls plastered with equations Out to prove or disprove the magnetic monopole Swim far from thought's shallows Hold experiments, teach classes Then someone said: "There's no money in that! Quick wit to pick apart fiction from fact You've got brains, kid, go make some cash!" With neon dollar-sign eyeballs Hollowed-out heart, I'm placing bets on life or death Listless drips seep through the teeming weeks And I lose respect for myself Hope is the last of the spirit to falter Hope is a weight that drags from within And if I'd known in the end it was worth it I would've followed that hope to begin