Values.

There will always be someone to complain that it's too bright out,
or that it always seems to be raining.
That winter's too cold, summer's too hot
and that fall and spring are indecisive seasons.
They will criticize beauty,
mock the homely
and say that the best of us are still
only human.
They will complain that silver linings are not gold
and that we make our own luck.
They attract tragedy because they do not know blessings
and for all the beauty in the world,
they will seek out the grim and subversive.
Romance is for movies,
friends are for saps,
love is a vagary.
They ignore us, but yearn for our pity.
They are paintings of sad people,
offering nothing in return for the
misery they dispense.

The brightest days illuminate our world,
and the rain brings quiet to the cacophony.
Winters are crisp, summers' too brief
and the balance in between stabilizes us.
The beautiful are fortunate,
the homely more so
and all that's best in us makes us
human.
We can frame our success in silver,
for often luck and chance play a roll in our triumphs.
We make our own comedy in word and song,
and for all the grit and grime in the world,
there is still beauty in oil slicked pavement.
Romance is for everyone,
friends make us whole,
love is complicated.
We can ignore the deprived, but secretly we pity them.
They are half-finished works of art,
requiring our hand to finish
what someone else started.