Optimism

This year is going to be the year, he said
With the confidence of a white man in America
And I would like to believe him
And believe that we’ll all quit smoking and we’ll stop staying up so late and sleeping in cab rides home, and we’ll finally get it right
You and me will be just like the people in the glossy pictures who pay mortgages and take vacations
He said this year is going to be better
And I’d like to believe him, he says it with such conviction and his eyes are glassy and his heart’s filled with hope and we could all have hope if we looked upward looked onward looked forward through the tunnel over the bridge, away from the past we worked so hard to construct in this rose-colored vision like that flimsy shade blurs the dark lines we carved like we’re eligible for this annual reset
This year is going to be our year, he said
And it feels better to believe him
His glass always is half full