There Goes Maxey Brown

By: Justin Lin

On one rainy night in December 1999

A newborn baby comes out of his mother crying

He got the cutest little nose, cutest little face

Cutest little coo when he’s wrapped in Mama’s embrace 

His name is Maxey Brown

His story starts in a small town

In a small family without a father

Just Maxey Brown and the relentless love of  Mama

Now after six years, Mama starts to see

In Maxey Brown’s eyes, there’s a little gleam

See, implanted in that boy’s brain is a little dream

That he’ll become more than anyone could ever deem him

One day, Maxey Brown says, “Mama, know what I’mma do?

I think I’mma be an astronaut and fly up to the moon

I’mma fly up so high and ain’t nobody gonna bring me down”

With a proud chuckle, Mama says to herself

“There goes Maxey Brown”

Well Maxey Brown is now sixteen years of age

And he’s taken this dream of his to the next stage

He’s given his all, blood, sweat, and tears

Into this dream, that inch by inch nears

Hours online watching top astronomers preach

Hours poring through textbooks of the most advanced kind

Hours devoted to extra classes and self-teaching

And with each

It seems Maxey Brown’s dream comes further within reach

Now hold your breath

Cause it’s a special day

The day Maxey Brown sees whether his hard work has paid

It’s two years past since Maxey Brown’s graduation

And T-minus ten before opening NASA’s response to his application

Allow me to assure you that his resume is top tier

Grades, exams, and recommendations, they all clear

But at this point, my dear audience, I fear

I must warn you all to brace yourselves - this is hard to hear

Cause these are the applicants Maxey Brown is competing against

Anne Lee had a perfect GPA since middle school

And Marcus Smith had internships with three other space companies

And Willie Cambridge has been publishing space research since thirteen

While Amir Khan has a corporate father and rich uncle to lean on

You see, when you consider these kids’ pure perfection

You see why Maxey Brown now holds a letter of rejection

While his tears fall and blotch out the red N-O

He starts to wonder, could his childhood dream be a no-go?

But you should know that Maxey Brown, he ain’t like no other kid

He’s worked so hard to get so far, and he

Refuses to let his legacy be marred

By giving up now and settling for a life subpar

So Maxey Brown picks his head up, puts his foot down, and he says

“Ain’t no way I’mma let this dream be put to bed”

You see, this Maxey Brown, he’s a real special kid

And it’s in his heart to go out and do what no one ever did

So Maxey Brown, he resolves to stand strong,

He ain’t gonna let nothing change the way he sings his song

He’ll fly high and never let nothing ever bring him down

And be on the moon in five years

There goes Maxey Brown

Now it’s been another two years, let’s check in on our boy

What? He’s being used and worked like a free toy?

He’s a janitor now, makes a living off of picking trash

Has Maxey Brown’s grand dream gone and ran out of gas?

Well those applicants from that first year, those elites, those soul crushers? 

They come back every year, they’re haunters, they’re dream crushers

Anne Lee comes back as Taryn Britt

Marcus Smith comes back as Kyle Wit

Willie Cambridge came back as Joshua Pitts

And Amir Khan comes back as Lyle Nick

And Britt and Wit and Pitts and Nick over these two years

Rejection and rejection onto Maxey Brown they sear

But like I said, this Maxey Brown, he’s a special kid

And it’s in his heart to go out and do what no one ever did

With a bucket and a mop, and a dream that’s glowing bright

Maxey Brown, back to the textbooks, back to the uphill fight

But deep inside, within his soul, a dark seed has been sown

And weariness and depression, within him, start to grow

Thirteen years and many N-Os later, Maxey Brown is 35

And in desperate, dire need for a new spark of life

Hours and hours in those textbooks, not enough

Hours and hours with that mop, not enough

And Maxey Brown, he’s a special kid, but damn is he tired

Tired of working so hard just to see the same two letters

Tired of spending day after day as a freaking janitor

Tired of waking up every day and being crushed

By this dream that is so tired of being hushed

On a March afternoon, the story of our tired friend

As he steps off the stool, now comes to an end

A little boy with a big dream from a small town

Is forever suspended high, there goes Maxey Brown