She calls me up
This absolutely gorgeous girl
And says to me,
“Tell me happy things.”
So I tell her about fresh grass on sunny days when everything is dewy and damp and bright
And about the clouds on the white days that make everything clean
I tell her about kittens and rainbows and everything that rests in the closed eyes of an eight-year old’s dreams
I tell her about prisms and light and damn! There are those rainbows again
Just a little sign from God saying “Hey, believe in me or not, there’s something surreal,”
And a little sign from whatever-may-be saying that even with science there’s magic
Or something like that.
I tell her about beautiful women whose legs stretch on for miles and whose hair flows in the wind
And whose faces look nothing like her or her or Her or her or…
I spin words until they don’t sound like words any more
And they slide off the tongue and down a water slide in the summer into the pool and splash!
Floating amongst the sunbeams and daisy chains and tiny drops of water that drip from your hair
Long after the rest of the water has dried up in the heat
And man, those sunbeams are hot
And they hit across your back like beats on a drum that goes on without a drummer
Rat-a-tat-a-tat-a-tat, drumming tattoos into your skin of hearts and stars and too many moons
I dance around what can’t be said and say what I can about dancing
Letting the music throb through you and you move and move
Like there’s a chance that if you stop you’ll fall apart in an instant
But you’ll take it because there are still warm beds to be laid in and fireplaces to warm your frozen hands at
And beautiful girls to take your mind off the one across the dance floor.
I cradle the phone close to my ear and speak of everything she hasn’t known and everything she will
Because things get better and brighter and no, I know they’re not all right right now but hey
That’s what happy things are for.