forever? i think not.

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this is a rewritten version of a story my mom used to tell me when i was a kid. it's not exactly a John Green tumblr worthy quote, but it still means a lot to me, and i remember it every day, and i thought y'all would like it too. there's a poem afterwards, but it sorta sucks.

***** 

"There was a man once who believed that everything would last forever, and if it didn't, it just wasn't meant to be. Every morning, he would make himself a cup of tea and admire the flowers in his windowsill from the seat of his favorite yellow chair. When he ran out of milk, he drank his tea black. When he ran out of sugar, he drank his tea bitter, and when he ran out of tea, he had water instead. When his flowers died, he just stared out of the window at the neighbour's wall, and when his favorite yellow chair eventually fell apart, he simply sat on the floor. He died like that. He'd lived a bitter life and died believing that happiness just wasn't meant for him. But  that's not the truth. The cold, hard truth is that nothing  lasts forever unless you make it stay." 


there was a man 

who always wore striped pyjamas 

and a little blue hat 

who sat every morning on his favorite yellow chair 

everyday, just like that. 


he'd make himself 

a cup of tea with milk 

and one spoon of sugar 

never two 

every single day, it's what 

he'd do. 


and then he'd sit 

on his favorite yellow chair, 

in the corner by the window 

and he'd watch the flowers grow

in his window sill, 

everyday, just like so. 


and when the milk ran out, 

instead of buying another carton, 

he had his tea black, 

though the taste was strange, 

and had it like that every day, 

it never changed. 

and when the sugar ran out too, 

instead of doing what we'd do, 

this old man sat in his yellow chair 

with a blue hat on his hair 

and a cup of bitter tea in his hand 

sipping quietly as he watched 

the flowers wilting in the sand. 


and when the tea would run out also, 

he'd have water instead, 

telling himself it was better for his health, 

and though he never liked

the way it went,

down his throat,

he never sent 

for another pack of tea. 


and when the flowers wilted 

as he always knew they would 

he never planted them again 

though he could 

have, instead he sat in his yellow chair 

and watched the dust collect 

on the side of his neighbours house. 


and when his favorite yellow chair 

finally fell apart 

and his pyjamas had worn a hole

in the space 

below his heart, 

he sat on the floor instead 

with his mug of flavorless tea, 

and cried 

that his world had gone away 

and he died 

that very day, 

believing that everything happened for a reason. 


and though he lived a bitter life 

with no kids,  

no more tea, 

and no wife, 

and nobody to help him buy a new 

yellow chair, 

he left behind a moral to us all, 

reminded us to never fall, 

for the falsehood that claims 

it wasn't meant to be, 

for though some things should truly end, 

they don't always have to, 

like his favorite cup of tea, 

or his yellow chair. 


so don't believe that man,

the truth is nothing lasts forever 

unless you make it so, 

because milk runs out 

and flowers don't grow, 

without water. 

love is not a miracle, 

it's a working progress 

that never ends. 

life is like that too, 

so don't watch it all disappear 

claim your own life, 

because it's not going to wait 

for you. 



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