And so there it was, plain and clear: the simple fact that life either dealt a full house or two pair. Though there was little hope in getting that ace high, he still carried his jars. For a purpose unknown he always had those jars packed away in his black bag and always kept them safe from shattering.

Wish

And so I was trudging down the street
Left foot after right
Slightly swaying from side to side
The backpack left me weighted
And there on the ground was a coupon

‘One free wish’
And I sneered at it
It was shoved in my pocket
That’s where I kept everything else that was useless
A walking junkyard I suppose

People shouldn’t joke about things like that
It’s quite tactless
So I went home
And I emptied my junkyard onto the bed
And I took the jars from my backpack

One labeled ‘Sadness’
It was almost full
Just a few more disappointments
And I could open it
That would be nice

One labeled ‘Happiness’
I tried to keep that one empty
I didn’t want to break it
Too much happiness can shatter walls
Glass in my shin wouldn’t be nice

One labeled ‘Pain’
That one was full of a deep red color
It was the easiest to carry
Nice and light just like flowing blood
If happiness shattered I’d have to add to this one

One labeled ‘Stress’
I was worried this one was going to break
The thin wisps of blue kept pushing on the jar
It was the hardest to carry
I didn’t like watching the dizzy lines

Those were my jars
Sometimes I wanted to smash them
Take a hammer to the thick glass
It wasn’t pleasant carrying them around
I had homework to put in that bag too

I picked up the coupon for a wish
I didn’t like it
So I opened up ‘Happiness’
And I shoved it in there
It caught fire and burned away

And then I felt a strange sensation
And my jars all burst at once
And all the little emotions were swept out the window
I take back what I said about the coupon
I liked just having my homework.