I can live with sorrow and grief;
They are as natural as a falling leaf.
Today’s happiness just taken on borrow;
Sadness takes up residence on the morrow.
It’s unbridled joy that makes me nervous,
Showing up as it does with an air impervious.
As if waterproof, resistant, I just turn my head,
Joy can be unreasonable and fills me with dread.
I know that sorrow can show up any day;
But wanton joy seems in somebody’s pay.
Sorrow makes me thoughtful, quiet, mild;
Joy unleashes cravings that make me wild.
I accept my sorrows with a grain of sand;
Unearned joys I give away in reprimand.
Sorrow holds me in check with no illusions;
Joy fills my heart with unexpected delusions.
A happy face doesn’t always mark the clown;
Sometimes the clown adopts a simple frown.
If given the choice, I’d take sorrow any day.
True sorrow, not false joy, has greater sway.
I find a strange contradiction in this poem. You seem to relate to something you call, "false," joy. I think that you are referring to some defense mechanism and personalities where they get hilarious when deeply troubled.
Joy is easily expressed by children when they encounter new things that seem delightful. You can hear it their voices and see it in their body movements. Adults are conditioned over time not to respond like that. But, just when a great tragedy hits someone and they can't help crying, the sudden appearance of a long-lost love, a surprise award for work hard won or even a money windfall will find adults joyful like children.
OH! THE SORROWS I'VE BORNE!...THE PAINS...THIS WEARY SOUL HAS ADORNED! YET, I WAS MIRACULOUSLY STRENGTHENED TO GO THROUGH BUT FOR 'JOY' THAT...NEVER... LEFT MY SIDE! THANKS FOR SHARING. LOVE, BLESSINGS AND FAITH...JOYCE * HIS INSPIRATIONS.
Selected poems from previous & forthcoming collections together with Q&R apps on each page to enable audio rendition simultaneously with the written text
Mary Angela Nangini's poems celebrate the richness of life and love. From the city to cottage-country and the roads in between, Nangini explores the changing seasons of her varied region. (This book will soon be reprinted in hard cover.)
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Love ya!
Jane
Joy is easily expressed by children when they encounter new things that seem delightful. You can hear it their voices and see it in their body movements. Adults are conditioned over time not to respond like that. But, just when a great tragedy hits someone and they can't help crying, the sudden appearance of a long-lost love, a surprise award for work hard won or even a money windfall will find adults joyful like children.
Ron