I Once Sat By a Pessimist A pessimistic point of view Shed his coat and sat beside me, Not knowing my name, or place, or rank But spoke anyway as if we were friends From long years ago; and then fell the rain So we stayed some more, and spoke of things Yet to come, like doom for all I had no desire to leave the man For he made sense of stupid things And warned me of haste and possible failures That were of the likelier nature The longer we sat, the longer I thought And stewed in the excess of an imaginative mind Not bothering to think of anything good For he was convincing and had a great wit But nevertheless, our time came to go We had chatted long hours, and the hour was late, So he took up his coat and waved his hat And left me sitting there with a massive headache. Lisa Stebbins