The Happiness of Another
There came a day, some years ago,
When the world's suffering overcame me,
And drowning in an Ocean of Sorrow,
I wondered at a reason to continue.
Finding nothing in the world's enticements,
I sat sobbing, having lost all hope,
Until, amidst my tears, there appeared,
A vision, only of a woman's smile.
No face accompanying, but only a smile,
A smile not yet broken into laughter,
But on the brink, near bursting with joy,
Happiness, there, in the smile of another.
And in that instant, my tears transmuted,
For without thought, attention turned,
From myself, and the Ocean of sorrows,
To Happiness, there, on the face of another.
And the whole of me was Taken, wholly,
By a Happiness, Pure and Unalloyed,
A Happiness born of only one cause;
The Happiness of the Mysterious Other.
The world Vanished, and I Vanished,
And only an Unbearable Love remained,
And tears of an Unbearable Longing,
For the Happiness of the Mysterious Smiler.
When I emerged from Oblivion in Love,
And my eyes perceived, once again,
This world of countless Sorrows,
I had been Shown the reason to exist.
I Revel now, in the enjoyments of this life,
Which before, had lost their savor,
And cry, still, for the Sorrows of the world,
But constant, now, in both Joy and Sorrow,
Find Life's Greatest Happiness…
In the Happiness of another.
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