For The Plaintiff

Listen now, gentle suffering soul,
listen to me carefully. At risk
of offending, you leave me little
choice but to instruct you in the
niceties of sufferance convention.
I lay no claim to wisdom; I may
perhaps have experience where
you have not. Certainly my years
exceed yours, for what that may
signify: little or perhaps much.

You may feel it personally needful
to mournfully, remorselessly
regale others with your sadly wistful
countenance as a bid for soothing
compassion. If so, leave it at that.
Do not, my friend, continue to
complacently burden us with both
it and the tenderly related minutiae
of your miserable existence.

For here, my erstwhile friend, is
a truth: we all have our own sad and
weary burdens in life. We, all of us,
suffer in our own way for our very own
singular and painful reasons. Kindly,
therefore do not continue to prevail
upon others to pity you. Friend, do not
take a casual concerned query as license
to lacerate the hapless listener with
your all-subsuming tales of woe.