New Attitude Poem by Daniel Trevelyn Joseph

By marginalizing every success of mine
Every good thing that happens to me or us
I undermine my own joy and or achievement:
Much worse, end up irritating Tilaka my wife.

She is intelligent, sensitive and competent.
So every time I bring her mood or content
A level down by my attitude of deprecating
Anticipating only failure, I am raising her temperature.

I have now decided (she does like me to use this!)
That I will try to be fair and correct
In judging my success or our possession
And not always decry or belittle it.

She feels that I developed this habit,
In order to prepare her for disappointment
When I am worried that we will not make it
And get disappointed and I dont want that.

Now after 40 years of marriage and togetherness
She says that we both know each other well
And no need to use such subterfuges to avoid
Pain or disappointment to each other, not at all.