[ WP ] A true personal story that makes the reader feel sonder ( the realization that each random passerby ( here , the writer ) is living a life as vivid and complex as your own ( here , the reader ) ) .

In the spring at Pitcairn Park, 
 
 We used to swim together 
 
 My friends and I would smoke cigarettes 
 
 That we bummed from the older kids 
 
 And Dan from across the street 
 
 Would bring his black eye 
 
 and more importantly 
 
 more cigarettes 
 
 and we talked about our futures 
 
 and we talked about our pasts 
 
 And Dan said his mother did n't give him the black eye 
 
 and we said we did n't care 
 
 Although at least one of us cried in the night thinking about his poor face. 
 
 Now I am old 
 
 And Pitcairn Park is closed 
 
 And Dan got married 
 
 To me 
 
 And he had an affair 
 
 We divorced forty-four years ago 
 
 My kids do n't talk to me 
 
 And sometimes I'll play mahjong with the Vietnamese men in Chinatown 
 
 We smoke together 
 
 I still smoke 
 
 And later we talk about the spiders in our closets that do n't pay rent. 
 
 edit: formatting... so much...
