Bare Bones

We learn it from puppy licks
And kitten purrs,

From bird bath chirps
And bedtime hugs.

We test it with raging hormone-safaris,
Stalking its elusive coupling,
Enigmas we thought familiar,

Now but jesters in our youthful courts.

We come to know its quintessence
By accepting the disappointment of lies.

From 4 alarm fires of the heart
Flooded by ducts of tear-laden fear,

Courage is born.

As the sun awakens moments anew,

Where hope and expectation
Patiently await destiny,

Growing feelings once so simple,
Now of experience hard-fought,

Embrace the unattached heart of being.

One’s innate state of mind
Without need of anchor,

Remains an unpretentious complexity,
Guarded by one’s inward caress
Remaining forever afloat as the quintessential essence.

Such is the austerity of honesty’s Love,

The bare bones of happiness.