We were in the coffee shop

Among flowering plants

The guy wouldn’t stop

Elephant ears, cattails, florals

Verdant greens, blooming blues, and tropical corals

The young guy was blabbering, cursing, talking so loudly

A skinny kid in the corner was pouting

My presence was certainly creating a problem for someone

Me and my friends were just visiting for some coffee and fun

An older woman at the table told the young woman across her: “You don’t sound like a Christian”

There was a Bible between them but something was missing

A man dropped his coffee

His wife was scoffing

All on a pretty Saturday afternoon

When all of a sudden that second floor fell through

Everyone was pierced by it – a 10-foot tall cactus in a pot

Coffee fell from that upper floor drop by drop

No one could reach the cactus needles in their own skin

So each relied on another to remove them

That kid took out the young man’s needles

And the wife helped her husband

The guy on the phone was no longer cussing

I helped my friends, they helped me

The old woman helped the younger and listened to her read

Coffee was brewed and the flowers bloomed

Hence the Don’t Be a Cactus coffee shop

Where everyone in D.C. stops

Don’t be prickly

Life’s already too sticky

Share a cup, help another up

Don’t talk so loud, don’t pout

Help your friends and spouse out

Don’t be a cactus