The Sunny Side of the Street

I've been walking my whole life on this side

The sunny side

I can see you on the other side, our head

Hanging down, muttering to yourself.

I'm waving to you

Don't you see me?

Can't you see me waving to you?

Hoping for your company on this side of the street

I'm trying to get your attention

Not because I need you to look at me

To understand my own existence. No.

You look interesting to me, your mutterings

Chime in my ears like music--I'd like to hear more.

But my arms are getting tired, I'm still waving

And you're still ignoring me.

I come over to your side.

It's beautiful here. The snow drifts are necessarily

Higher, the shadows cast arcane patterns in blue

It's lovely and perplexing.

I see why you want to puzzle out its meaning

But I'm telling you, the patterns are easier to decode

From the sunny side.

Come on over, I beg of you

I don't want to leave you here

But I can not stay too long

I issue my invitation to come across the street

With me. From there, we can laugh about how

Dark and mysterious this shadowed side is,

Without being pulled further into its grip.

Drifts become ruts, become trenches,

Then you're lost.

If I pull on your arm and drag you across

The street, will you be mad at me?

You say you can't help it, it's chemical

You think I don't understand how it feels.

But you are the one who lets bad habits

And chemistry take the blame for your own misery.

I understand that if I love you and I want you

To cross over with me and you won't come, and

I leave you here on your own, you'll blame me:

I clearly didn't love you enough to sacrifice 

My own happiness on the altar of your pain.

So I cross back to the sunny side

I'm watching you from here

I'm waving from time to time, come on over,

I miss you

No, I can't come back to your side. I'm sorry.