About rejecting familiar melancholy.

Ah, familiar melancholy,
You’ve come back
To live with me.
I can feel your long, skeletal fingers
Massaging my shoulders
To sink down,
And twine around my spine,
Creeping one vertebrae at a time
Coiling outward to the ribs
To play them as slabs
On a sad harpsichord,
A melody of forgotten happiness.
But what’s this?
I’ve written a line that made me laugh.
Now here’s my little grandson
Smiling up at me,
It’s time to play a game
Him and me and sister make three.
I’m sorry old friend, melancholy,
You’ll have to find another
Place to stay.
I repudiate you, I separate from you.
My heart beats free.
You can no longer
Live with me.