The List

Author: Stephen W. Cote

Upon this page I pen a list

Of all the glories I have missed

But top this list with anxieties

And rue the glory through insobriety

The first line is devoted to money

Because though we have evolved through history

We are ensnared in the evils of the currency

That can buy love and does bring happiness

For who is starving but joyful?

Do the poor sing sincere thanks for disease

That could have been cured with the raise

Denied the wage earner last quarter?

Another line goes to people

Who are cruel, ignorant, and evil

Yet have surpassed you on line one

Making them no better, but happier

Then comes anxiety on line three

Because you've lost yourself in line two

By struggling to get too far too fast

Because you believe you belong on line one

Line four is a line of love

that cannot be made without the time

Devoted on line three

Because of lines two and one

Line five is the misery

You probably feel right now

Or have sometime in the past

Because of lines four, three, two and one

We would like to tell ourselves

That line six is the most important

Faith will save us in the end

From misery, love, anxiety, people, and money.

But the kindness of faith

Has a high price tag

That is only bought

By lines five, four, three, two and one

Because you are still buried

Somewhere around line three

Having faith that your miserable love life

Will somehow make you a rich person

And there you are on the bridge

The money you desire blocked by the people you hate

A miserable love life behind you

And faith is all that keeps you going

It may seem like there is no hope

Chances are you are stuck on line three

Of a simple, six-word list

That you never wanted to write

But it keeps things in perspective

And you have faith it will work out in the end