Everything You Deserve

I hope next year

You get

Everything

You deserve

I can’t tell you

How many times

I’ve stood

In this very spot

At all these

Holiday parties

In dresses

I can’t afford

And watched

As you worked the room

And solidified deals

And stoked the fires

Of money worship

Amongst the hoi polloi

And every year

A new one drops

From suicide

From overdoses

From not being able

To forgive themselves

For what they did

And what they

Agreed to do

How come you never

Walk up to me

With those deals of yours?

Is it because

You’re married

To my sister?

Trying to keep

The business

Out of the family?

And what if I want in?

What are my--

Knowing me

Knowing me

The way you do

What are my odds

Of being one of the lucky people

Who get to come back here

Year after year

Looking worse and worse

Hair falling out

Weight piling on

Teeth rotten

Popping what I expect

Are antidepressants

The whole time

They’re here

Are you protecting me

Because you like me

Or because you think

Losing me

Would cripple her?

You want to know something?

She wouldn’t care

All that much

She’s got you

And you’re her basket

She put all her eggs

Right there

In that stock portfolio

Of yours

What do you think

Is going to happen

Next year?

I mean, none of us know, do we?

But I’m sure you’ve heard

The same things I have

About the FBI

And the questions

They’ve been asking

Your associates

Some of your unlucky friends

Who are here tonight

Sweating

Because they can’t look you

In the eye

And they know

You probably know why

But hey--light the lights

No reason we can’t

Enjoy the moment

I know I’m enjoying it

This little spot

In this corner

Of your obscenely large

Living room

Has never felt

Like a place

I wanted to be

Until now

But knowing

None of it

Will be here

In a few months?

I’ve grown sentimental over it

I guess

But maybe

You’ll be okay

You never know

All you can do is hope

That you get

Exactly

What you

Deserve