Justin - Happiness

About the writing

I picked the form of acrostic this week, and have regretted it. Not really, but this was pretty hard. I am comfortable with the constraints of rhyme and meter that exist in traditional poetic forms; it seems much more cumbersome to me to have a fixed first letter that, if I decide to change, it means possibly changing a whole section. I fought this one quite a bit. In the end, because I did not want to change the acrostic, I sacrificed both meter and voice at times. By voice I mean that the language is at times very modern and common and other times more formal. I started knowing that I wanted to examine the pursuit of happiness versus contentment and so planned a transition from hopelessness to hope. Content wise, I like the result. I would have liked to have made the transition earlier in the piece, but I think it works well with the hope/contentment section being shorter.

While writing this I was thinking of 1 Timothy 6:6

Happiness

Happiness, you devil fleetly running,
A taunting dancer just outside of reach;
Pursuit takes the greatest wits and cunning,
Perchance the dream’s defenses for to breach.
In knowing that the hunted thing cannot
Negate the longing of the discontent;
Even capture brings not the joy it aught
(Searching for more, as more, more want ferments.)
Still we chase in greedy hopes of capture
Ideals of what we think that life should be,
Silencing all evidence which fracture
Belief in what we hope that we might see.
Enjoying not all with which we are blessed,
Instead pursuing foolishly fraught gains.
Never finding peace, never finding rest,
Going still for more regardless of the pains.
Could we instead look at all that we’ve got?
Or of the ways our needs have all been met?
Not looking for that mythical gold pot,
To joy in simple things we’ve earned with sweat.
Enjoying what we have pursuit may cease,
No more to chase a taunting devil running,
To be content in happiness and peace.