Happiness I have known you.
You’re in lifelong friends.
You’re in childhood memories
Of bicycles and summer nights,
sleepovers, giggles and secrets.
You’re in Lake Huron swimming with fins.
You’re in twenty-something adventures with my friend, Tina.
You’re in Central Michigan University,
walking across campus,
steamed milk from The University Cup.
You’re in the writing group I attended.
You’re in marathon late-nights,
walks through the woods,
and poetry down by the river.
You’re in my first taste of freedom.
Happiness I have known you
in rumpled covers and laughter,
in stories and conversation
after the setting sun.
You are in the warm and furry body
of Charlie in my arms.
You dwell in my husband’s smile.
You are in the soft and subtle air
when his companionship is all I need.
You are in the language of our eyes.
Happiness, you are in that full moon
pregnant with milky light.
You are in Orion’s belt
and Cassiopeia’s crown.
You are in a good novel,
my love of language,
the joy of a new word.
You are in the songs I sing along with
on my way home from work
or when I sing just to sing.
You’re in the sounds of
Joni Mitchell and Miles Davis.
You’re in my cat’s kisses
when I walk through the door after a long day.
Happiness, you’re a walk through the park.
You’re Saturday breakfast
with coffee and orange juice.
You’re the private jokes
my husband and I share along the way.
You’re in the tips of our fingers
as we hold hands.
You’re in the friendship and laughter of my mom.
You’re in the love of my family in general.
Happiness, I know you now,
and you are not complicated at all.
You’re not always grand, or far or expensive.
You’re in small and humble
and brief and lovely.
Sometimes you’re in silly and goofy.
Some think they don’t know you, but they can.
For them, you are in the shadows waiting.
You are in patient and simple too.
Sometimes, Happiness, you are unexpected.

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