Thank you for having introduced me to love
At all the critical points in my life
For at each terminus
Had I not learned to understand
More of what it entails
Its potential for…development of potential
I would have given up long ago
Why do I feel that strangers dislike me
It’s not simply paranoia and delusion, is it?
The woman in the parking lot guards her car
The fitness dad stares me a dirty look
Why when I stare in the mirror
Do I see a naive soul
But when I look in the reflections of others
I see black pearls of distrust and fear
If they expect me to
Why not become a sociopath?
Use my brains to outsmart and exploit the sheep
But the truth is that everyone can choose this route
The majority do not because we have all agreed to this social compact
So chill out, because I agreed to the contract as well
I mean, why else would I choose to be here
In the same grey boring arena with boring you?
Thank you for the luck bestowed
Time after time
Providing me the freedom
That I have always yearned for
It is as amazing
As I had imagined it would be
All those years stuck behind a prison
Bars of emotion and ambition
Thank you for teaching me generosity
It sure took you a long time for this one
A young student said quite candidly
That I was stingy with praise
But now he has put in me
The first hope that I have in the new breed
Surely, I can refer to them as animals
Because they are teenagers
And the hypothalamus, and all that
Thank you for giving me a social circle
Of naysayers and insecure small minds
For it has taught me the valuable rarity
Of positive kindness
A gem hidden among all the bric-a-brac
I’ll put up with the downpour for now
Only because I have put down so many others myself
I’ll endure it for a tad more
But after that all bets are off
I mean it
But regardless
Thank you for
Forcing me to value myself
For myself (because sometimes that’s all there is)
