When Happiness Pounces Upon Me Poem by Gert Strydom

When happiness pounces upon me
hitting her nails into me
as if she can only stay
for a little while
and when her passion is gone
almost immediately she leaves

but misfortune stays with me
and I wrestle while she wants to suffocate me
to come out of her pinching claws
and wonder why this fat old lady
constantly is busy with me
as if she wants to sit me flat into the earth.

[Reference: Das Glück ist eine leichte Dirne by Heinrich Heine.]