All Those Little Happinesses

John Herlihy

We may often question what happiness is;

We don’t question all the little happinesses.

We may question the source of our little joys;

Yet, children never question their little toys.

Wondrous eyes of a child chasing a butterfly;

The sacred mystique in chasing after a firefly.

A foolish childhood happiness that you love still;

The uninvited happiness arrives of its own will.

To feel the coldness in the winter moonlight,

To appreciate the warmth in summer sunlight,

To listen to the rumor of an early spring,

A chill fall breeze lifts the migrating bird’s wing.

A joyful happiness never planned or expected,

That fills the moment with visions of tomorrow,

That wraps us in a cocoon, feeling protected,

Even if the sensation chimes as only on borrow.

A sober happiness in knowing right from wrong,

Never found in scholarly books, never learned.

Streamlets of echoes flow from a church gong,

Embers left behind as the fire slowly burned.

A serene happiness that all in the world is right;

Never a wrong card dealt out in destiny’s hand.

The vision of rightness held firm in our sight;

The earth spread out as a carpet across the land.

The ecstatic happiness in a hope fulfilled;

Sitting there on the horizon with so much to say.

Stirring the heart that refuses to be stilled;

The happiness pouring into us as if there to stay.

It happens that in the aftertime of a great sorrow,

An unexpected feeling of courage may arise.

To rebuild a heart broken in the days after tomorrow,

To put back into its place all that you improvise.

These little bits of happiness each have their own class;

They shine their own light thru a prism of cut glass.

All those little happinesses will great happiness bring;

Flocks of birds, blue of sky, as hearts in unison sing.

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Copyright © John Herlihy

Saturday 24 July 2021