Actually

For a moment I forgot

that joy is unconditional —

I looked around, and saw,

then felt, the sadness

everywhere it lay along

the tragic and the casual

occurrences of unfulfilled conditions

The sighs arising

slip like wisps above them,

hover haunted, sink on down —

it’s easy to believe

no answer can be found for anyone

But joy is unconditional —

it cracks like a smile,

bounds up like a bubble,

flows, light filled,

through all the places

where things seemed so sad.

This is not a big problem, actually —

it’s just time to claim our heritage.

©Wendy Mulhern

December 29, 2019