What's the view like
All the way up there on your high horse?
Looking down at the rest of us
who are running around in the real world
while you glower and sneer from your pedestal.
We're just bugs on a windshield
to people like you.

For far too long you've been so caught up
in the high life, the rat race,
the proverbial West Egg,
that you've forgotten what it's like to live.
You're stuck in a losing game of tug-of-war.
If you don't let go soon, you're going to get pulled into the mud,
like so many others before you.

Yes, I can see it in your eyes.
You're terrified of becoming one of them,
all those people who toss and turn in their king-sized beds,
sleeping fitfully and dreaming of nothing.
They dodge their shadows and avoid their reflections,
afraid of who might be staring blankly back at them.
They can't bear to face the empty shells they've become.
Those poor souls.
There is nothing we can do for them,
they're too far gone to bring them back.
But it's not too late for you.

We're here to help.

It's been so long since we last met,
you may not remember me.
Your eyes were so much brighter back then.
I barely recognize you, all these years later,
laughing spitefully from the glossy covers of magazines.
If you think hard enough, you might see me,
filed and locked away in a distant memory.
Now we meet again
and your eyes have grown dull.

Follow me. We'll have some coffee uptown.
It's time for a long overdue chat.
You need to get your priorities straight, your life back in order.
Stay strong; you're in for a life-changing reality check,
and a metaphorical slap in the face
(or perhaps a literal one, if necessary).
It'll take some work, but you'll be back to your old self quite soon.

I hand you our number and I walk out the door.
You stand on the sidewalk looking older,
but also wiser,
than when we arrived.
There is still time, I say to you as I get into my car.
Give us a call if you ever look into a mirror
and find your reflection staring blankly back at you.
We'll be waiting by the phone.

It's not too late.
We're here to help.