Life Isn't Fair - The Story of Danny Joe

So I have this friend
I'll call him Danny Joe

One day Danny Joe comes leaping out of the closet
like a fag-in-the-box
and what happens...?

He meets this wonderful guy
who's very successful
smart
witty
and on and on and on

yeah yeah
OK so he meets this great guy
and BOOM
they fall in love and live happily ever after

that was 6 years ago

out of the closet
and into the white picket fence

Now, I'm very happy for him
to be sure

but at the same time
I feel deprived
cheated

You see I never got to be that friend
you know, the one who gets the late night phone calls
those desperate, I've got a knife to my throat
sobbing phone calls
you know the ones... yeah those

No no no
Everything worked out perfect for him
and again
I'm very happy for him

BUT

Why did everything work out so perfect
for him the first time around?
That's not fair
It's just not fair I tell you

The rest of us had to
have our chests ripped open
with our hearts kicked into the gutter
and mashed into the cold cement
and topped off with salt

but not Danny Joe

instead, he gets the phone call
from me... like I haven't had my fair share
yeah I ended up calling his perfect ass
sobbing and devastated
at midnight or one am or whenever

He must have had a field day
telling me to put the gun down
to stay out of the medicine cabinet
and on and on

I'm glad I was able
to give him the satisfaction
of consoling me on more than one occasion
but come on...

When is it going to be my turn?
Part of being a friend is seeing them
go through HELL and back
and helping them take what's left
of their tattered souls and
mending them back together

I never got to do that for Danny Joe
and, once again
while I'm very happy for him.....

but if it should happen one day
God forbid ...
I'll be here
waiting for him
to come home
and mend him back together
just like a good friend would

The Old Woman

The other day I was riding the L to work
(that's Chicago's subway system for those of you in California)
Nothing unusual about that...

I do it everyday
Same time
Same train
Same seat
Same everything

This day however was a little different

You see there was this old woman on the train
I had never seen her before
she appeared to be a cleaning woman
she was very old and seemed very much alone
the years had worn hard on her
was she 60 or 80 yrs. old?
she seemed very sad, beaten down
like life had taken everything from her

I couldn't stop looking at her
I started wondering

what was she like as a young woman?
was she beautiful?
did she like to dance? was she fun?
was she ever married?
was she ever in love? who with?
were they happy?
what happened to her?
does anyone love her now?
what were her dreams?
where did they fall apart?

I felt a certain compassion for her
this old woman who seemingly had nothing
I wanted to sit next to her and tell her
that I thought she was something
and I wanted to hear her life story
and tell her something that would be good
but I didn't know what I would say

The train came to my stop
and I got up and left
but I stopped and looked at her
as the train moved on

I went about my normal routine
but I kept thinking about this old woman
too bad she will never know
that she touched me
maybe she changed my life somehow

For now I feel like making my life
worth living for however long it lasts
I don't want to be that old man on the train someday
If I can't change my own life for the better
maybe I can change someone else's

Just like she did - just now