More Or Less Of The Same

I will be your sympathy when I just cannot empathize
I will be your empathy when I can more than sympathize
I will be the shoulder you can wet when rain falls from your eyes
But one thing I won't be is surprised

I will listen as you tell me how he wasted your affection
I will listen even when I know you don't need my attention
I will bite my tongue, suppressing thoughts you don't want me to mention
Like "Be pickier about your next connection"

I will take a step back, knowing how this new chapter will end
I will watch you from a distance as you hurt yourself again
But I won't be out of touch, lest you think me a bad friend
Still, I may just be one now and then

I will forget all about you until somehow you remind me
That it only burdened both of us for me to treat you kindly
It's not that I don't love you, but I can't let my love blind me
Why can't I just leave you behind me?

And now that once again, you've been abused and used and burned
By yet another opportunist to whom you have turned
I know you still won't recognize the lesson you must learn
And I've run out of time to be concerned.