A Mindset Kept Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

Live to wish for the feeling of joy.
And pray each day for joy to come to stay.
Joy could be feeling free from conflict.
Or having someone say,
They appreciate what you do.
With sincerity believed to know it is true.

Few live with it wished,
A good deed done for another is expected.
To accept it being ignored.
And few live with it wanted,
To be belittled and demeaned.
By anyone who does it.
Because today that seems to be the 'thing'.
Done to do to others first.
Just to let off some steam.
Excusing whatever inside them hurts.

Live with it wished,
To want and experience the feeling of joy.
Forget whoever is doing what to whom.
And making room in their hearts,
To choose and find for themselves some gloom.
Live with it wanted to have happiness.
Since that to have with joy to experience,
Should not be too difficult to achieve or get.
When too few seem to be seeking it.
Not to know it to be a mindset kept.

Once one decides,
It is either joy and happiness.
Or a lifetime of disappointments.
To satisfy and share with others,
Spending wasted time comparing regrets.