Pills or Reasons

You ought to have reasons for your feelings.

Or pills. 

You cannot have a cold despair come

and sit in your heart just like that.

Not in the middle of a sunny day.

Not without a reason. Have a pill

If you will. 

See a shrink.

I was sad the other day. Just sad. 

For once, sad was the apt word.

It closed with the airtight click of a tupperware lid.

Language sufficed, and that almost cheered me up.

But a friend said, "Don't despair." 

He could see clearer than me

the weekly forecast to the weather in my heart.

A poet suggested I keep myself at arms length.

It became hard to navigate crowded streets

and subway stations. My arm is long

and it slams across the faces of multitudes.

I now sit with the sadness,

the despair and the arm reddened with the slam

of faces passing by. Myself sits close by,

for fall has arrived

and a sudden chill makes you want to huddle

with whoever's closest.