All The Sods I Never Met.

Too often, far too often,

I survey the list of vile characters

—they were vile to me and that's enough—

that I have had the ill-luck to encounter

within the course of my one life,

and I judge myself accursed.

But then, at times, at better times,

I consider the myriad millions

that go to populate the globe

and the multitudes of offensive types

that, statistically, must surely exist

well beyond my own modest circle,

and I remind myself to be thankful

to have been spared all that unknown horror,

that vast gallery of malevolent faces,

happily left blank.

Thus reminded, I do feel blessed,

inwardly consoled, privately pleased,

if only for a while, for a while at least,

and I can only smile to myself,

in a godlike sort of way.