My Friend, Happiness

Twenty four years and some number of days,

I have breathed the air of this earthly plain,

Wondering since then where happiness lies,

Beneath a rock, up above, a twinkle in the sky.

In my younger days, there was no doubt,

Happiness flowed through my fingers and my heart,

Life was simple and a joy to live,

But then the plague came, its name was puberty.

Through my teens, happiness was there,

But he was elusive, hiding behind the door, sneaking a peek when no one was there,

And slowly but surely he went away,

Replaced by the evil twins, complacency, and apathy.

Now try to understand that life was not a frown,

It’s just that when happiness is fake, it does not last all that long,

A month, a year, sometimes five are lost,

Before you realize that what you had was false.

So my search began once again,

To find my friend who had went away,

“Happiness” I called, “Where art thou?”

And he replied “Here I am, in your Father’s home, did you have a doubt?”

I asked “Where have you been my long lost friend?

Why did you abandon me?”,

“Here, here, always here, I never left this place.

It was you who ran and hid away and sought other company.”

And so my search was finally done, I found my happiness again,

I will hold him close, I won’t let him go even though there is bickering,

But now you ask, which road to take to find your blessed friend,

“How will I know if he is here, or in another land?”

He is in the eyes of the children you teach, especially when they hold your hand,

He is in the voice of any youth that says, “I can move this land”

He is in the heart of every person that arises to serve the Plan,

Where our Father’s work is needed most, that is where he dwells.