A Descriptive Attempt To Happiness.... Poem by RIC BASTASA

once in a while
you learn their cumulative passing,

these cancers are working hard
to eliminate friends, erase good memories,
nay, even change the landscape,
for with those who perish, houses are
sold, or even demolished, and those
who still deny the tragedy even burn,
create a pyre, chant resentments, and
leave the place, paving the way for
the new ones, strangers to grief.

learning is like climbing a mountain.
going up is hard, but when you reach the
top you go down, it will be as easy
as sliding on those slippery hills.

to the plains, another village is built.
men build houses, babies are born, wives
attend to a garden of flowers.
bird migrate here, and begin again to
share their songs.


those that you do not know make life
bearable. the feast tonight, the dancing.
the revelry over an anticipated romance,
the moonlight reverie, the midnight silence.