Let the Dow Jones drop 1000 points
Let the Cubs lose ten games in a row
Let the recession forecasts prove gloomier than expected
Let my boss complain that I’m not rigorous enough in my approach, and threaten to lay me off
Let the mayor fall from grace, just like the three before him
Let the Harbrechts get a divorce (what took her so long anyway?)
Let my uncle indict himself once again before the entire family at my niece’s wedding
Let the gang close ranks and start spreading their usual unimaginative rumors about me
Let the home internet be kaput for three days
Let the next-door neighbors play raucous ear-numbing music and leave beer cans, cigarette butts, and foul odors in and around the front yard (do they think it’s still the Seventies?)
Let there be steady rain during the day for a fortnight
Let me have the predictable midlife crisis of hourly angst that lasts longer than Dylan’s Never Ending Tour
Let Giselle try to get under my skin with her syringe of sarcasm
Let the president make another speech filled with prevarication about our latest imperial havoc-wreaking
All of these
I can handle
More or less
But to see you
With those tears
(My brio evaporates)
Dribble one by one
(My breath quickens)
Down your cheeks
(My back tightens)
Is an ice-dagger
Straight to my heart
