Companionship
#3 of Poems
Another poem I wrote talking about the value of having friends to help you along through life.
When you first stumble across a new face in the air
Do you spend the time to get to know them and tell them you care
Or do you just go through your life, never spending a day
Only caring about you, never about what any others have to say
Is your life so burdened that there's no room for another
That you've no time left in your hands and that they're all just a bother
Are their sorrows and struggles to be left to their own heart
Let them drown in the ocean, as long as you get a good start
Life is too precious to be wasted on anyone else, surely that's true
For the cliche script of the American dream must continue on cue
No time for another, no energy can be permitted to be lost
Everything is a stat sheet, time not spent solely on you is a cost
Marriage is a joke, but at least a good one for the cynics
Go to the alter, say I do, then invite family and friends to the picnic
Have a honeymoon, feel the romance, get pregnant of course
Months later you realize how shallow your love was, so you go get a divorce
Now the baby has to pay for your lack of responsibility
Collateral damage for your childish promiscuity
Birthed into life, now rejected in volatile brazenness
Too immature to see this could have been avoided negating your laziness
When will we see the value of a close brother or friend
How much is money worth, it won't stick with you to the end
Spend years working sixty hours a week, fifty weeks every year
Just so you can show off your materialistic wealth and brag about gear
While your family at home falls apart at the seams
The foundation of your relationships showing multiple cracks in the beams
Grab the booze, take it home, get drunk then get trashed
But ignorantly wonder in amazement as your life outside of work starts to crash
Life has lied to us all, said it's all about status and money and backstabbing gains
That to have all the wealth in the world means an end to your pains
The fact that so many fall for it and lose their soul is a shame
When in reality, the fight to the top is really a fight to not get too badly maimed
See how many careers and bodies and families you can throw to the side
Just so you can continue elevating your damned selfish pride
Be better than everyone else, but don't do it by bettering yourself
Simply lay waste to all opposition, then gather their strewn wealth
In the end you'll be worse than you started, but you reached success
You have money, a wasted life, and your family's a disastrous mess
You have no friends, only cohorts and alliances you must always be wary of
The word companion holds no meaning, and what the hell is love
You have reached the top, but with nothing left to climb further atop
The pain you tried to leave behind finally catches up with your stop
The realization that you have everything but have nothing at all
Is when you notice you haven't succeeded, instead trapped yourself in a wall
This wall constricts you, constantly draining you of your life
You lose your job, then your money, then your dog and your wife
Life gave you it all, now the debt collector is coming for its dues
A temporary loan, an evil banker sitting back in suede shoes
Who do you turn to, with every relationship in a fifty ton landfill
When even waking up every morning is becoming more of a handful
You know you have no friends, no family, and no one who might care
So you scribble down a note, tie a rope around your neck and kick out the chair
Perhaps we all need to take a step back and reevaluate the meaning
Should our lives be about enjoying their beauties, or simply mistreating
Taking every opportunity to inflict pain on another, whether friend or stranger
Failing to realize you're doing the harm to yourself, putting your soul in danger
Of becoming a fraud, a lifeless wisp in the blustering wind
Blindly sprinting down a path that continues to descend
Towards a cold numbing future of mansions and cars
Never again finding joy at night looking up at the stars
We all must stop stumbling down this terrible and misleading trail
And come to the conclusion that we all can prevail
Success, whether false or true, will always come at a price
But in the end, will your path lead you to the whole thing, or only a small slice
My friends, wake up, take the blindfold off and open your eyes
Few paths lead to true joy, many others to a hidden demise
Your decisions in life will most likely come as this list reads
Be a loner, demean others, despise yourself or plant seeds
The first three all lead to the very same inevitable ending
Regret filled decades with life so gleefully rescinding
All the false joys she trapped you with, the springs silently falling
The years flailing by, burning your skin, leaving your soul scalding
But if you plant the seeds of friendship, even if you only plant a few
Taking time out of your life to reach out to another, caring about more than you
If those years are spent growing those seeds that you planted a while ago
They will continue to flourish even through the worst rain or heaviest snow
Those seeds will grow into saplings and then thick trunked trees
Capable of withstanding even a hurricane's great breeze
Together they will stand against the darkening sky, the tumultuous storm
Providing you shelter against the howling wind, keeping you warm
Having someone to stand with as the dark creeps across the sky
Will lessen the pain of disaster when you need to ask someone why
You'll have the friends and relationships you took years to obtain
More than ready to be there for you to weather through the tears and the pain
Let us all remember what this season of Christmas is truly about
Is it about all the gifts you got and how much you can tout
The greatness of the season is for the sake of the joys of giving
So why is it that the only thing most focus on is the glee of receiving
Take the time out of your busy, schedule infested, unbelievably busy day
And spend a few minutes contemplating your friends close and far away
Take the time to thank them for all they've put up with, both the good and bad
That they were there for you and listened during the happy moments and sad
And if you stop now, taken aback, and think to yourself
That for all the time you can remember, the only thing that mattered was wealth
Then realize that there is not a time better than right now
To go back to the dried garden, pick up a hoe and begin to plow
Moisturize the soil, regain control on your previously misguided life
Plant the seeds you had forgotten, stowed away from your world so rife
With the misinformation you had been taught since you were a child
Magazines and the media demanding you choose the life they had filed
Stand back and laugh, as the glorious realization
Fills you with such an awe inspiring sensation
The knowledge that life can be so much more than wealth
The once hidden fact of the true joys of life no longer able to stealth
For now the summit of the highest peak is there for you to climb
And now the successes of life are there, but do keep in mind
That it is best to shoot for the highest goals, and never be long in rest
And that it took far more than just one man to climb Mount Everest
Keep strong with your friends, for they will do the same for you
And the chances of an enjoyable life will drastically increase too
Love is not for the foolhardy, but rather the ultimate test
Do you only have enough to pass by or can you truly hit success
Christmas is a time for a joyous celebration, a true sign of the spirit
The best part of it all is not receiving, but rather giving, but I fear it
Is all slipping away from our corporate grasp, its life stripping hands
But no one has to succumb to the horror of its sadistic plans
The future is yours, but don't risk going at it alone
It's hard to solo the harder bosses from their throne
But bring your friends with you, gather the support and the power
And you'll see that even in your worst times, you can still have your finest hour