What happens to a dream deferred?  
Does it dry up  
like a raisin in the sun?  
Or fester like a sore -  
And then run?  
Does it stink like rotten meat?  
Or crust and sugar over -  
like a syrupy sweet?  
Maybe it just sags  
Like a heavy load.  
Or does it explode? 

Little boxes on the hillside,  
Little boxes made of ticky-tacky,  
Little boxes on the hillside,  
Little boxes all the same.  
There's a pink one and a green one  
And a blue one and a yellow one,  
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky  
And they all look just the same.  

And the people in the houses  
All went to the University  
Where they were put in little boxes,  
And they all came out the same.  
And there's doctors, and there's lawyers,  
And business executives,  
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky  
And they all look just the same.  

And they all play on the golf course  
And drink their martinis dry,  
And they all have pretty children,  
And the children go to school.  
And the children go to summer camp,  
And then to the university,  
Where they are put in little boxes  
And they all come out the same.  

And the boys go into business  
And marry and raise a family  
In boxes made of ticky-tacky,  
And they all look just the same.