Tired

Yes, I'm alive, but do I deserve to be?
Why did he have to go instead of me?
We look for a system, for a reason to run,
But life's cold and capricious and callous and done.

Why do I put up with it?
Why do I try?
I'm sick of all this living,
But I'm too tired to die.

You can spend you whole life getting it right,
And lose all you hold dear on some quiet night.
You can cheat and steal and borrow and take,
And live like a king off those in your wake.

Why do I put up with it?
Why do I try?
I'm sick of all this living,
But I'm too tired to die.

So easily we lose what we believe,
Will be there forever, until they leave.
And yet we keep going, and still we try,
For just one smile before we die.

Why do I put up with it?
Why do I try?
I'm sick of all this living,
But I'm too tired to die.

Scenes From a Coffee Shop - Episode I

It was nice to back in a coffee shop, sipping cappuccino and yawning, and what better day for it than one beginning well below zero and doing its damnedest to remain there. The windows picked up the steam from the espresso machine which immediately froze, making the cozy shop seem that much warmer and more inviting. The coffee jockey was pleasant enough, if not a bit detached: exactly what one would expect from the hippest of hole-in-the-wall indie beaneries.

I sat quietly, poring over notes I had hastilly scratched down in anticipation of my meeting. I want to impress, for sure, but I don't want to work too hard at it. If brevity is the soul of wit, my work flow is Oscar Wilde.

I positioned myself at a little table by the door, more as a matter of function that form; it was colder there, but I could easily be seen here, and it seemed to be the one place that the diffused January sun wasn't cascading directly into my eyes.

(Editor's Note: this is an older item I wrote almost a year ago, on January 25, 2009.  I had toyed around with writing more in this series, so I thought I'd dust it off.  Also, the coffee shop this was written in, the Speckled Bird Café in Norwood, is no longer in business. Funny how things change... but I digress. Cheers!)