TEN KINDS OF SADNESS

There are ten different kinds of sadness

They start out at a one with such things

As hang nails or paper cuts

Perhaps the bus was late or too crowded

Perhaps it was your hair

These are the fleeting sadnesses soon to be forgotten

Number two kinds of sadness involve the loss of something

But only temporarily

You can’t find the keys

You can’t find the remote

You don’t remember where you’ve sat your glasses

Number two kinds of sadness make you move

They make you worry slightly

But it almost always has a happy ending

In just a few moments all is resolved

We first encounter the third kind of sadness as children

When we have lost something of fleeting value

Ice cream falling off of summer cones

The favored baseball card lost in some child’s game of chance

Lightening bugs escaping your sweaty hand and the killing jar

The higher numbers of sadness

The sixes and sevens

Are for losses of greater magnitude

A limb lost in battle

A mind lost to war

A home lost to a nameless corporation

A loved one lost to a drunken driver

Things still held oh so very dear

Gone and forever

I would tell you of the numbers nine and ten kinds of sadness

But my soul can not bare such today

Not while the sun still shines

In truth, I am afraid

I’m afraid your hearts would break open wide

I’m afraid you would never forgive