Chuck Taylor On Happiness Poem by Chuck Taylor

Chuck Taylor on Happiness

Happiness comes as you climb a hill and
The sun is setting, white azaleas blazing
In the rain; happiness whisks around like a
Moth buzzing your nose, as a lizard, black-
Stripped, slips in and out of cracks in a cliff's
Limestone; happiness in action: making
Pies outside from sand in Corallina's
Comfy play kitchen, then finding in the
Garage a stray tabby cat; happiness,
Standing in line behind a farmer in
The Dollar Store, he's sold his farm and is
About to heave with his love for mountain
Mexico: happiness, finding in a
Used bookstore a picture book, that thirty
Years ago, a pen friend sent from Japan;
Happiness, getting a shovel, lifting
Out an exhausted toad trapped in your child's
Plastic summer wading pool, and then you
Remember - you don't know why - your first kiss,
In a slow rain, under an umbrella,
In front of a an abandoned grocery
Store you'd found a back way in to explore.
Don't hang yourself for happiness. It's out
There waiting always for you to find it.