Joy
written by: Daniel Clarke-Serret
Joy.
The noblest of emotions.
I have found it!
Found what I never thought existed.
Oh I knew of love;
Which the whole world speaks of,
And dreams of,
And searches for,
And suffers for.
Love can enhance,
But also destroy.
Lead the sane to madness,
The stable to jealousy,
The calm into chaos.
What to do when your love leaves you?
Weeping?
Rage?
Seething anger?
The best years of your youth are stained with tears.
Many hope longingly for love to return,
And this hope sustains them.
But their happiness is fleeting.
For just as every rollercoaster
must descend
once its summit
it is attained;
So must depression follow
The ecstasy of false longing.
To love
an antidote is prescribed,
purveyed by witch doctors
specialising in despair.
This antidote has a name…
equanimity!
To be so numbed to reality,
That you take the evil as you would the good.
No matter I’m alone!
No matter I’m without fulfilment!
Just accept the world as it is
and retreat from it.
Accept injustice!
Just don’t live alongside it.
Accept the bitterness of the soul!
And be silent.
What life is this?
Was I born into creation to deny it exists?
No.
There is a better way.
Joy.
The triumph of expectation over hope.
Life lived over life longed for.
To be tested and to succeed.
To know that everything that has come your way,
be it apparently good or bad,
has brought you both,
your lives,
your destinies,
ever closer together.
And no matter what will come,
Will result likewise.
Joy is love, yes,
But this love will not rise and fall,
as the tides do
daily.
It depends not
on the winter
or the summer,
On a movement to the left
or a movement to the right.
Every down will raise you up
as every up lifts you up;
No matter the external,
the internal will blossom everlasting.
Your smile will never set.
What love brings happiness without destruction?
And the summit without the fall?
Joy!
But where can it be found?
That is a question,
but by man can it not be answered!
Joy cannot be located,
searched out,
conquered.
Love that brings joy
is happened upon.
Why her?
I cannot say.
But you know.
You know the person when they come.
Knowledge without understanding.
No matter what you do
your love will flower
and never die.
No matter how you run
you will not escape;
and you won’t want to.
I know joy,
And I’m smiling.
- Spotlight On Writers – Daniel Ashley Clarke-Serret - September 30, 2023
- Joy - June 4, 2023
- Your Face - February 12, 2023
