The Sadness Of Being Sad Poem by Herbert Nehrlich

'So what, my learned friend,
makes men get sad inside,
out of the blue the blues descend
and muscle in just like a pushy bride.'

'It is not known as yet to science,
if purpose did beget all sadness
some think perhaps it is defiance
which in itself prevents much madness.'

'But Doctor, have you not been sad
yourself in your adventurous long life,
I can imagine that you would be glad
when passing tests and being saved from strife.'

'Oh no young man, I don't believe that men
need ever let themselves be sucked inside
conventional behaviour which comes when
common sense itself has gone on a long ride.'

'I do not know exactly what you mean by that,
perhaps you could elaborate for me
I know my lady who just happens to be fat
is always melancholy as a girl can only be,
it is, I know, a type of sadness that she brought
into the marriage with her healthy appetite
but I, the dummy was the one who thought
that married life would somehow get things right.
And as for me, my face just sags in certain scenes
(I cry when no one sees me, for the losers)
of movies out of Hollywood, the silver screen
it even gets me down when I see boozers
down in the alley, bearing wrinkled paper bag
with that cheap stuff inside it makes me really sad
just yesterday they put a cardboard tag
on one of them, who had passed out so bad
that no revival could make matters come out well
they took him off in that big hearse, it was good-bye,
it all just saddens me but tell me how to tell
that my own attitude is maybe just a lie?
Sometimes I think that I don't really give a shit
and rub my hands together when a bum falls down
or when a Yank, an Arab terrorist or Brit
who fight for freedom in the world's most hated town
when one of those gets blown to bits and smithereens
I'll have another drink and watch a better show
so I implore you Doc, interpret what it means
as you can tell I am a man who wants to know.'

'Now listen here you bleeding heart, you make me mad,
I have no time for altruists and worrywarts
I cannot help those souls who simply must be sad
when a cheap hussy in a back alley aborts
or when a drunk has done his liver one last deed
which ends up looking like a football without air
and I will see to it that losers do not breed
but, that means only that I basically don't care.
So, if you want to know about the subject sadness
I would advise that you acquire a thick skin
which will enable you to wallow in your madness
and don't you ever think that madness is a sin.
You may, of course for any personal pastime
access the chemistry of humanoid emotions
you would then study that the serotonin chime
will send a nasty comment, packaged in devotion
over to dopamine, which would unravel all
only to find that an ad hominem has landed
and that those bastardly transmitters have the gall
to wage their war at large and need to be disbanded.
It is a game and nothing else, this life of ours
so take the bottle that will please your tongue the most
and when the day comes that the universe devours
you and some others you will turn into your ghost.
But do not choose to recognise that sadness counts
it does not matter, so be happy and look out
for those few morsels within reach, it's what amounts
to your noblesse, it gives you what I call the clout.
Shall I go on, my friend, or have I made my point
if not I would suggest a set of ECT's*
but would you happen to be carrying a joint
it is an excellent prevention from disease.'

'Well here you are Professor, what a little fad,
you must be one of us to smoke that happy weed,
I will admit that I am now so bloody sad
that I must hurry to my dealer, I'm in need.'