Tell Me A Story About A Happy Man

Tell me a story

About a happy man

Don’t make him

Too happy

Because I don’t want

To envy him

I want to hear about him

And think

That I have something

To look forward to

I think…I suspect…

That if you live long enough

You land on everything

Sooner or later

Bad circumstances

Good circumstances

Happiness

I just want to be around

Long enough

To have that moment

Where I think I’ve made it

Made it to where

I don’t know

But I’m sure I’ll know

Once I’m there

Tell me a story

About someone

Very sure of what they want

And why they want it

And I want them

To go after it

In a straight line

With no diversions

Or distractions

I know it won’t be

A very interesting story

But sometimes--

You know, when you’re a kid

You don’t always want

Conflict in the things you watch

I remember watching

Disney movies

And the last half hour

Is always the big confrontation

And I would stop the movie

Totally content

With having only seen

The parts

Where everybody is happy

And it seems like

Nothing is going

To go wrong or change

It didn’t bother me

That there wasn’t any resolution

Because the only way

To get to a resolution

Is through turmoil

I’d rather stay in the middle

And so if you tell me a story

Tell me one

Where it’s the beginning

And the middle

And the middle never ends

Just keep talking

And when you see me

Close my eyes

And fall asleep

You can quietly say

The ending of the story

To yourself

Because I know you probably want to know

How everything turns out

But I don’t

That’s never been

Important to me

Tell me a story

About a happy man

And maybe

It’ll make me happy

Or at least happy

To hear it

Describe the happiness

In all the details

Even the smallest ones

I want to hear how it moves

How it arrives

How it tries to leave

But nobody will let it

They keep it laughing

And talking

And dancing

And pretty soon

It doesn’t want to be

Anywhere else

So it isn’t just

The story of a happy man

But the story of a man

Who was always happy

And knew he always would be

And never had to worry

About it all going away

Tell me a story like that

If you’re going to tell me

A story

You can tell me
Another story

If you want

But I’ll just be waiting

The entire time

For the story

I want to hear

I’ll just wait

Until you can come up with

Something

Like that