How did life become so sad?
You with such energy, such talent
should be on the world stage
lit in huge letters on
sparkling marquees.
Princes should be vying for
your hand at the ball.
Rubies and sapphires
ought to adorn you.
Your slightest desires
attended as undying devotionals
of starstruck acolytes.
Yet, here you sadly dance
alone without spotlight.
You grieve so silently
in dark blue shadows
that no one sees you there.
It is a mystery;
crying in shame you turn
tear-stained cheeks plaintively
to vaguely envisioned goddesses
asking only with voiceless sighs,
deepening heaviness:
How did life become so sad?
Operator's Manual 