Sadness, My Sin

Do you know a girl named Sadness?
Do you know her well?
Does she dine with you on Sundays?
Or send postcards where you dwell?

And how well do you know Sadness?
Does she of marital miseries tell?
Were you there when her son first spoke?
Did you teach that vagrant to spell?

Did you lie in her quiet embrace?
Did you whisper love in her ear?
Did she tell you that she loved you?
And leave when the morrow drew near?

You hear now she loves someone else.
You realize it’s been a while.
You say, “I’m with Elation now.”
But you miss her kitten smile.

And Elation, she’s impatient.
She won’t let you be.
She wants you to jump and laugh and dance and sing,
And say, “I’m in love with me!”