We Shouldn't Settle for More or Less

Sometimes I look at you

And I wonder

What will happen

In the unforeseen years.

Will we be happy

In a life of luxury?

An affluent loft

In whatever well-to-do town we wind up in,

With designer clothes from Italy on our backs,

And swanky footwear walking through a golden street?

Will a diamond rock crafted by the Earth first,

Then by human touch,

Surround my left-hand finger

When we both say

Those two simple words?

Will cameras flash when we smile for the lens,

Even when there’s no grinning matter?

Will people stare in awe and say,

“Look at those two.

They have it all.

The lights.

The glamour.

The gifts.

The green.

If it were me,

I wouldn’t know what it’s like

To ever frown again either”?

They could be right.

But what will they know?

We could have it all.

But for what we’d know,

All of that doesn’t ever equal

True happiness.

No one sees the tears.

The bruises.

The pain.

The hurt.

The regret.

They just see the smiles in a wedding snapshot.

As if that determines the unforeseen future.

You don’t desire that lie,

And neither do I.

So perhaps we will settle for a lesser living.

Will we be happy

In just a moderate unknown town,

With 9-to-5 jobs to barely pay the bills

Of our ramshackle apartment,

Even with degrees stored away in a moving box in storage?

Will we have put millions of miles between us and where we grew up?

Will there be countless nights

Where I call home in tears

With talk of going back?

Will we fight more than we make love,

With shouts from rage instead of from pleasure?

Will we want to stay indoors

Than go out and mingle?

Will one of us get tired of it all?

Will one come home,

And find the other’s belongings gone,

Along with the said other?

Will a note be found in their place

With the words “I love you, but I’m sorry”

In bold letters?

Will that be the end of it all?

Who’s to say which one of us two will stay,

And which one of us two will go?

They’d say that when you’re in love,

You’ll use that love

To overcome any hardships

That comes with living a life

Together.

But odds are, that could be a lie.

You don’t deserve that lie,

And neither do I.