A Bigger Mess

You’re going to stand there

And ask me

Why I didn’t come out

And stand up

For your mess?

Because it was a mess

And me standing next to you

Doesn’t clean up the mess

It makes me a part of the mess

Or don’t you get that?

I love you

You’re my friend

But no, I didn’t want

To hop down into a mess

That was not of my own making

Do you--

Do you have any idea

How many messes I’ve been in

Over the years

That I didn’t drag you into?

That I cleaned up on my own

With no help from anybody

Because it was my mess?

You know--

Listen

Listen carefully

To what I’m about to say

Because it is crucial

That you don’t hear this wrong

Why is it

That when we find ourselves

In a mess

We tell our families

Our spouses

Our kids

Stay out of it

Don’t get involved

But then

We turn to our friends

The people adjacent to--

Not above

The most important people

In our lives

And we say to them--

Get into it for me

Get involved

Why is that?

Why should I go to bat for you

But your wife sits right where she is

And doesn’t say a thing

On your behalf?

Why do you want to protect her

But you get me in your mess

You don’t want her in your mess

You don’t want your kids in your--

I’m just saying

I get it

Believe me

I get it

But listen to what I’m asking you

Listen to what I think

Your expectations are
Of me

As opposed to what you expect

From the person you got

To stand next to you

On an altar

Saying ‘Til death’ and everything else

That’s all I’m asking

You don’t sleep next to me at night

But you want me

In the mess

With you

And would a friend have done it?

Maybe

So maybe I’m not your friend

Or maybe I’m not

A very good friend

Or any kind of friend

But you could have put

Twenty people

In the middle of that mess

And all you would have had

Was a twenty-person mess

And that’s the truth

That’s the truth of the matter

And the truth about the mess

I get why you wanted someone

In it with you

I’ve wanted the same damn thing

Many times

Many times

But I never thought

It would do one thing

For the mess

The mess?

The mess was on me

See, that’s what you need to understand

The mess is on me

And everybody who shows up to help?

They’re just helping the mess

They’re just helping to make
An even bigger
Mess