A Plaintive Plea

 

I’m losing my sense of humour

That’s how it seems to me,

It’s not because I’m getting old

It’s that people won’t let me be.

I just like to see people laugh

And that’s why I joke a lot

But it appears to me these days

I should be what I am not.

Faces are clouded with sadness

The sunshine has gone away,

Night has crept in its stead

And stolen the joy of the day.

The youthful lines are replaced

With wrinkles, not from smiles,

Glumness like the garden weeds

Now stretches for many a mile.

No time for humour now

Please note my serious outlook,

You are the cause of that change

You have altered my book.

How I yearned to fill its pages

With the humour I possessed

But you have ripped the pages out

And all that is left, is stress.

I had promised not to let people

Determine my outlook or mood

But after a short-lived success,

I have dropped into their groove.

One’s sense of humour is a gift

To brighten another’s day,

To ease that tension from the face

Which so easily get in the way.

I know that life is serious

To think otherwise, I’d be a fool

But to let it be so overwhelming

To me, that is just not cool.

  

I may have gone overboard

With my humour at some time

When you were dealing with something

That weighed heavily on your mind.

For that, I truly apologise,

I wish I had known back then

But don’t rob me of my humour,

Just help me to know when.

I’m losing my sense of humour

Please! Help me stop the drain,

There is a role for the sunshine,

It works really well with the rain.

Stewart Russell © August 2019