You with the sad eyes.

I can't remember what it's like to see you happy.

I wish I knew how to make you feel better. I wish I knew what it was you needed me to say.

They say women expect you to read their minds. Truth is, I think everyone's like that, gender be damned. We're like that too, men are. You and me. Truth is, we all want someone to be able to read our minds. We all want to have that special connection with someone that enables us to know just what the right thing is to say.

But that isn't reality.

There are people like you who, even if I wanted to, even if you did let me in sometime, I still wouldn't know what to say to you or what is going on in your head. Probably what's racing through your mind at any given moment is not what I'd even come close to thinking. And even if I did figure it out, I'd still not know what to say to you. You're like a puzzle.

I like puzzles.

When I was a child, my favorite thing to do was put puzzles together. You'd start with the edges, of course, everyone knows that. You'd create a border, a boundary around what will eventually be the picture that the puzzle reveals to you. It guides you. It helps you figure everything else out. There was always those few moments after you'd put the whole boundary of the puzzle together, when you'd feel pride. But then you'd get a little discouraged, just for a minute, because you'd have so much of the puzzle left.

I think you just got stuck at that place. I think you know what you want, you created your boundaries, but then you saw what was in front of you. You saw all the work it would take to put the rest of it together, and you couldn't handle it.

I understand, I've been there too.

People used to tell me I was lost in my own head. Sometimes I don't even realize it. Sometimes I'll be so wrapped up in my own thoughts that I miss what's really going on. You have that problem too, but you're stuck in yours. Trapped. It's your prison cell.

I wonder when you flourish. I hope you still remember how. My God, it's been so long since I saw a smile on your face that didn't seem forced. Your smile, when it's real, it lights up a room. That's not cliché, there is literally some sort of scientific anomaly that happens when you smile.

I haven't heard you laugh in a long time, either. There's no better sound. We, as humans, don't have the capability to create a sound more beautiful than the sound of laughter. You know that, right? The ability to laugh is the most important thing. There was a platoon of men during World War II, average, ordinary men, who spent their entire deployment laughing. They left laughing. They fought laughing. They died laughing.

You haven't forgotten how, it's still in you.

I see myself in you. You wouldn't understand if I told that to you, but I do. I see your sadness in me, your loneliness. I was once that way too. I used to have those same sad eyes. I hope you know that. If you don't, maybe I'll tell you in time.

I wish I knew what to say to you. I don't think you need me to say anything, though, because you aren't ready to hear it. When you are, I'll tell you that I know what you're feeling. That I've stood in your shoes.

You'll know in time.

You with the sad eyes.