Writer's Block

I have been tasked with writting a poem for a friend of mine and can not get past the first few phrases. I have never been blocked like this before. The topic has to be love and committment since it will be read at a wedding this fall. I still got time but, man, I get to the third line and it goes south. I have written things of this nature before, but perhaps it's the pressure of having an actual writting assignment that is getting to me. The other reason for my inabilty to fill up a notebook with fancy rhymes of romance and adoration is the possibility that I have grown far too synical to be an "everything is coming up roses" kind of writer. I don't know.

This leads me to the realization that tragedy, grief, and saddness are much more rich topics to write about. For every happy song out there is at least five sad songs. My Grandpa loves the old Hank Williams/Willie Nelson ballads -i.e. My heart was trampled by a metephorical bulldozer - this he refers to as the essentials of a good song: "crying, sighing, and dying". Years ago my younger brother once spoke up during one of Grandpa's favorites and said, "Grandpa, why are your songs always so sad?"

My point is that creatively speaking it may be harder to write something possitive than it is to dwell on the rough side of life. Is this because we take the joy in our lives for granted more often while sad things hit us deeper? I prefer to think that the human condition is not so hopeless but the emotions we feel on the "darker side" of the spectrum tend bring additional complexity and convoluted feelings. Hence a world of ideas for the creative processes.

It is not that happiness is not a good thing. It's just not as dementional while sadness and despair is so much more interesting. If this makes me jadded, then atleast I will be a jadded but published writer.