Happy Things

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.