In life, there is no deal.
There is no discount.
You can’t go to the store of life and ask to take out
The dreadful moments that make you feel
Like a speck of dust floating in the air.
A tiny person in Whoville.
The moments that we despise.
The moments, that make
You, you.

I can’t say, I’ll take 20% off of sadness
And,
Why don’t you throw in 50% more good.
Melancholy is okay
I guess,
But, I could use 10% less.

I wish that we could all do this,
Humans and animals alike.

If there were no limit
To asking what feelings to get
I would scour the newspaper and
All of those magazines that show perfect lives for more happy
Or, less sad discounts.

But,
What would life be without the mournful wail of a sob
Every once and a while
Balanced on the scale inside of you
With 20 happy moments to replace
One bad,

Life is not like the things you see in theater,
It is not like what you see on TV

Because,
Real feelings,
Real feelings
Drown you with sadness
Or make your heart swell
They make you feel elated like a cold popsicle on a hot summer day

Feelings are feelings in all sorts of ways
Happy ones, sad ones, and different kinds of bad ones
All of them,
Puzzle pieces fitting into life.