Posted on February 5, 2014 at 9:20 pm

Nothing in Common

There was this kid
A few years back,
A little older than me,
Lived in my house
And looked a lot like my mother.
There was this kid
I knew back then,
And I was sure he would be
The greatest star I’d ever known.

I’d watch him walk into a room
And he was never out of place.
He knew the answer to every question:
The square and cube of every prime,
The name to go with every face,
Like he was king upon a throne.

And we had nothing in common,
Nothing in common:
My mother was convinced
That I failed English out of spite.
We had nothing in common,
Nothing in common,
And thirty-some years later,
I’m still tortured and amazed
By how David always got the answers right.

Now later on,
I knew this guy –
(He was in high school, I think)
Had lots of friends,
And was the pride of the fam’ly.
He’d call me names
Or punch my head
And make me feel like a dink,
And I would hide from him all day.

But if I couldn’t find a friend
(Which happened more than I’d have liked),
I’d go where he was and sulk around him.
He’d say, “You don’t know how to throw,”
And “Just don’t play your stupid songs,”
And then he’d toss the ball my way.

We had nothing in common,
Nothing in common:
I thought he was a jerk
And who knows what he thought I’d be.
We had nothing in common,
Nothing in common,
But twenty-some years later,
I’m still grateful and surprised
By the little gifts that David gave to me.

I knew this guy before I wed –
He had a vision in his head
Of how his life would play out
And his dreams would come true,
But he was stumbling, he was stalled,
And every year, after he called,
I’d just think, “Man, there goes
The loneliest guy I ever knew…”

When people think I’m failing,
They never understand
The temporary setbacks
Are part of what I planned;
And David had his vision,
And David played his game.
We have nothing much in common,
But we are more or less the same.

There was a guy
Who met a girl
Who had a cat
They fell in love
And got a home
And made a vow –
He took her hand
And they lived happily ever after.
Here’s to happily ever after.