An Ode To Happiness And What Looks Like Her

 

Dear Happiness,

I was told to smile through

My ascension of smoky mountains.

To fight back tears after losing a battle.

I was told to make a cosy bed of thorny roses.

That it was cowardly to show weakness,

So I bottled in, pretending I knew you.

 

Dear Joy,

I think my mirror is sick.

It throws back my reflection with high

Winds of deceit and trickery.

I, whose inertia is clouded by the shadows of

What looks like you,

A reflection with the gait of a smiling clown.

But I’m still bottled in, because I think I know you.

 

To Peace Of Mind,

Looking back now, I think I got the message wrong.

I was never told to pretend to know you-

Never told to feign perfection.

 

But to find you even when you’re nowhere by.

I was told that- having happiness is

Not in pretending to know her,

But knowing that she is an intrinsic value attached to life-

For the dead man feels nothing.

 

Dear Happiness,

I have life; I know you.

 

Akinbola Oyetayo Michael

Akinbola Oyetayo Michael is an art enthusiast.  A recent Law graduate of the Obafemi Awolowo University awaiting Law School admission.