without sadness

without sadness
where would we be?
there’d be nothing to compare
perpetual bliss to &
would that not change the very nature of the
game?
would happy really be happy anymore
if it had no opposite?
would summer really be so sunny
without the comfortable
cold
death
of winter
to bring us down & isolate us all
for a moment of
sweet reflection?

and don’t deny it
there is a soothing ability which sadness can
bring
that the happy ecstatic just cannot compare &
such happiness, so fleeting,
can always be stolen---
it can always be taken by another
who stumbles upon it
even without motive,
because one’s happiness is so subjective.

sadness brings together
people who are moments away from
ending it all,
be it face down on a bar counter or
strolling in a dark rainy city---
these semblances of life do not destroy us
but instead humble us
where happiness will only divide.