Tragedy and Comedy, two brothers each a half,
the former one could only cry, the latter only laugh.
And every day they’d go on stage and give their fans a show,
it seemed their fame would never stop or even start to slow.
Tragedy played violin, Comedy played kazoo.
Comedy sang rock n’ roll and Tragedy sang the blues.
But they never played their songs alone, this talented duet,
and that is what made them stand out from any of the rest.
But the night Tragedy passed was mourned across the globe,
and his grave was built of solid tears instead of normal stone.
Comedy began to laugh and tell his jokes around,
“My brother who only sang of death is six feet underground!”
“Have some respect!” the public yelled, “That’s terrible!” they said,
but Comedy didn’t see the harm in laughing at the dead.
“He’s not around to be offended, at least not anymore,
so why be so defensive for someone who now is only gore?”
Without his brother Comedy could not feel any grief.
He wore a permanent smile, showing all his glowing teeth.
So Comedy visited Tragedy, to tell his grave a pun,
why golfers wear two pairs of pants, in case they get a hole in one.
But Tragedy could not laugh, because the man was dead,
and at this, Comedy could only laugh and slowly shake his head.
“What a tragedy!” said Comedy, “it’s really such a shame,
that real comedy is only found in someone else’s pain!”
All Comedy could do was laugh, because that’s all he knew,
and he played a merry melody on his red kazoo.
He laughed and played until he dropped into his brother’s tomb,
and a coffin that was built for one was now encasing two.
But if Tragedy had survived, and Comedy died instead,
this story would have had a slightly different kind of end.
If Comedy had died, you see, Tragedy would have broke.
His best and only friend was dead, there could be no jokes.
All anyone would do is cry, and slowly shake their head,
and that, my friend, would be the end, all humor would be dead.
If no one moves on from tragedy, then comedy will die,
but the same applies the other way, so both must stay alive.
This isn’t to say, if someone dies, you simply just move on,
and it’s not to say, if someone jokes, you tell them that they’re wrong.
Balance out the two of them, and maybe you’ll be fine.
And if not, do what suits you best, it’s your life, and not mine.
Phi Walker is a high school student situated in Toronto, Canada. He has a passion for art and writing, and is currently a voice actor for the upcoming animated series, “Hop!”, by Marc Brown. He often spends his free time playing video games, doing art, playing with his dog, and occasionally writing 3rd person biographies about himself (he doesn’t do this one often). His favourite genres to write are science-fiction, 1st person horror short stories, and they almost always include dogs.