All I Need

All I need is not you.
You are not all I need.

I mean, no offense.
You are nice and all.

But I wouldn’t go so far as to say you’re all I need.
Or even most.

Don’t you think it’s unhealthy to only need one thing?

What’s that expression--

You can’t judge a book by the tea in China?

Anyway,

Need is like water,

Need is like food,

Need is like shelter,

Need is like community,

And yeah, need is like love,

But you, while nice as I mentioned,

Are not everything I love.

“All I need is you,”

I heard it in a song,

I mean, in like fifteen songs.

Maybe twenty songs.

I thought,

Could that be right?

All I need is you?

Not friends?

Not a job?

Not artistic expression?

Not a purpose in life?
All I need is you?

Perhaps they are trying to convince themselves.

Perhaps they are trying to convince us,

Because if all I need is you,

I don’t need

Equality, justice, education.

I don’t need

An end to war and poverty and disease.

I don’t need peace.

I just need you.

I’ll look for you until I find you,

And when you are found

We will sit in our house,

Watch those people on the television

Doing things, singing, writing, protesting,

Avoiding taxes, beating up children, starting wars,

And we will say,

You, baby,

You are all I need.