Happiness

Happiness

A plump rosy-cheeked man

Stood alone in the street

He wore a red coat

And had shiny shoes on his feet.

In his arms was a box

Labeled ‘HAPPINESS’ in bold print

It was all gold and glittery

In sunlight it would make you squint.

The street was empty and quiet,

The air had a slight chill,

Suddenly a car sped right past him,

Then brakes squealed as it came to a standstill.

The car reversed backwards

All the way to where the man stood

A woman in high heels got out

As quickly as she could.

Her eyes were wide with desire,

“I must have that box”, she told the man

She became so flustered waiting for his answer

That she had to pull out a little pocket fan.

She held out a handful of shiny gold coins

As he ‘ummed’ and ‘ahhhhed’

Finally he came to a decision

And shook his head hard.

The woman begged and she pleaded

She even bribed him with her antique shawl, 

But still he resolutely refused her

The one thing she wanted above all.

When at long last she gave up

Got into her shiny car and drove away,

The plump man wondered

If indeed he should stay.

Then, with sound of the engine

Not too long gone

He noticed a young girl

Just strolling along.

Her feet were bare

There was no one at her side

He called out in a loud voice, “Yoo hoo!”

She looked up, innocent and blue eyed.

With one finger he beckoned her over

And offered her the box,

But when she politely declined he was flummoxed

And looked down at his socks.

Never before had this happened

Looking up again he asked, “Can you not read?”

Pleasantly she smiled and told him

“I can sir, but that’s something I don’t need”.

He was taken aback

And didn’t know how to respond

Perhaps the child simply didn’t understand

So naive and so blonde.

As she skipped off she turned and called out

“I have it already, I make it myself, you see”

And in that moment he thought that perhaps

The one who didn’t understand was he.