How Hard Would You Try to be Happy?
Poetry in free verse
Sometimes we try too hard to be happy.
If I got that job.
If I had more money.
If I could make that person come back to me.
We try so hard, that all we can focus on is the darkness.
Like a camera zoomed in too much on a photo,
all we see are the blurred edges of long-held grief.
It’s festering there, mold growing on its surface,
giving the emptiness a new scent, a new taste.
We get so lost in that grief,
that we turn blind
to all the beauty life has given us for free.
The pi-tuh pay-tuh of the raindrops falling against your windowpane,
the bright purple and white colors of the flower that blossomed this morning,
the vibrant green of the trees on your way to work,
the laughter of the baby in front of you at the supermarket queue,
how the night sky comes alive with the twinkle of silver stars,
how the birds chirp and coo, singing their happiness out in the world.
