Recipe for Living...

I would trade a pound of happiness

for an ounce of sadness.

I would exchange a tablespoon of joy

for a teaspoon of pain.

I would give a bushel of kisses

for a pinch of heartache.

I would gladly let go of a dozen accomplishments

for a dash of failure.

I would freely surrender a gallon of laughter

for a cup of tears.

I would wave goodbye to a pint of truth

for a morsel of lies,

if it meant I could live for that day.

Reviews

[Poeticpiers]

Balance is everything M lady WE need the opposites to appreciate the good things
Live for today is a good maxim now is all we ever have The past is trretrievable and the future unknowable

[Emily Rose]

Ah, very interesting! I was wondering where you were going with this poem ("what person in her right mind would trade a million kisses for an ounce of heartache?" I wondered) and you do a great job wrapping it up in the last line. I do have a few suggestions, though:

All of the commas are unnecessary. (Warning: I kind of got carried away when I wrote this and ended up typing a mini grammar lesson. Sorry! No offense is meant, and I'm sorry if I bore you a little.) Does "I would trade a mountain of happiness, for an ounce of saddness" look right when it's all on the same line? It shouldn't. Commas have many uses, but they're not used to join independent clauses (i.e. parts of a sentence that can stand alone, like "I would trade a mountain of happiness") with prepositional phrases (descriptive phrases that begin with words like for, of, about, etc. "for an ounce of sadness" is one such phrase.) Thus, all the commas that do this are unnecessary. Ironically, though, your last line is a DEPENDENT clause (a clause that can't by itself and make sense)."If it meant that I could live for that day" isn't a complete thought, so it needs a semicolon or a comma and a conjunction to join it to another sentence. My best advice would be to get rid of the period after "lies" and just let the "if it meant..." be part of that last sentence. /Grammar lesson (Sorry about that)

One last thing: I really like your clever use of cooking terminology to form your recipe, but there are some quantities that seems a little out of place. One usually doesn't put "a mountain of" something into one's food. Generally, your smaller quantities "a teaspoon, a cup," etc. are cooking measurements, but it puzzles me that the bigger quantities don't follow the same rule. To make it more consistent, you might want to expiriment with bigger cooking-related quantities like "bushels" and "dozens." Or not. I just think it would make the poem read more like a recipe.

Good start! I can't wait to read further drafts!

[Wildecat]

Wow this is some recipe. Totally enjoyed reading this poem.

[Delilah Dunn]

Ah, the overwhelming search for the feeling of being alive. You have described it powerfully and eloquently, yet simply, as always.
I thank you for the gazillionth time for an amazing read.