On Happiness

Do not take life so seriously

The voice of a generation

A war cry from the thoughtless

Avoid our existential doubt

Cast your worries aside

Divert your responsibility

There’s nothing to worry about

But

Is not worry a mercy

Is not worry a beauty

Is not the beauty of worry a grace

Given but never received.

 

But when you’re trapped on an island

Desperate in endless sea

Congealed with the excess

Confined to the banal

Bored of boredom's malignancy

You search the boats we tethered to banks

Of a parched and cracked canal

But

Is not despair a mercy

Is not despair a freedom

Is not the freedom to despair a grace

Given but never received.

 

How can one be free in this world

If she does not share her horrors

How can man be truly man

If they do not share in her insanity

Relishes his insecurity

Slave to virtues and her vices

Poised to feel humanity

But

Is not sadness a mercy

Is not sadness a joy

Is not the joy of sadness a grace

Given but sometimes received.

 

Sometimes received, indeed

Indeed!

Oh the power of death, indeed

Indeed!

The relief of the death of another alike

So painful and yet such honest respite

An excuse to unleash agony, regret

And remorse and just sadness

Such an honest sadness

At the pain of a life

That’s not joyful

Nor merciful

Or graceful

At all.