Them

Peter Serchuk

They made it their business
to stay on the outside.
They never asked for love, never
wasted hope on money.
They guessed the world was theirs
for pleasure and never argued
with the weather.

And we despised them.
We envied their luck, their cunning,
the God who fit into their pocket.
Even worse, we loved them.
We ached for the light which was
their glow. We sealed our fate
when we told them so.

What we pay for happiness
is hard to measure.
Desperation as a currency
is easier to count. We severed
our limbs to preserve hope,
to insure the disease of love
would not completely destroy us.

And they went on with
their lives, or so we guessed,
believing today is today
and anything else a last resort.
They left nothing and everything
to chance. Tomorrow always comes
if you never give it a second thought.