Happiness is as easy as closing your eyes
To the plodding masses doomed to die,
Or live their lives as fattened kine,
The meat on which their peers shall dine.
We flee before the lashing strokes,
Of Fate's black coach-man who ever croaks
A curse upon our weary souls
To pay in blood men's wretched tolls.
He who gazes with unblinking eye
Sees that all that lives must die.
An eye that's closed may never weep,
And darkened eyes bring fitful sleep.
Happiness is as easy as closing your ears,
To the shrieks of the Furies with their bloody tears
As whirling in macabre dance,
They wail to their master, Chance
A keening cry of sorrow and rage,
To mourn their ever growing age
And loss of all that once was dear,
A friend, a love, so far, once near.
He who listens to the words of the wise
Knows love is cruel and life speaks in lies.
An ear that's deaf to life's cold mirth,
Can hear the music of hope's rebirth.
Happiness is as easy as closing your heart,
To the suffering of others who live apart
From the sunlit world of hope and care,
Within the dungeons of despair.
While we grow still, the world turns on,
To turn and turn around the sun,
And it will turn when we are gone,
And men shall shrug and then move on.
A heart that longs for love's caress
Will be trod into the cess,
For the world favors hearts of stone,
And steel over flesh and bone.
Happiness is as easy as closing your mind
To rest upon a phantom faith blind,
To tell yourself that all is well,
As your world descends to Hell.
Life dangles carrots before our snouts.
And spurs our flanks with fears and doubts.
We reach towards the brazen ring,
Only to find it vanishing.
A closed mind "knows" that all
is fair.
And gentle fate awaits somewhere,
But give me truth so I may face
The skull behind the veil of lace.
Discontent's the price of living,
Born of all endeavor,
To buy yourself true happiness,
Close your eyes forever.
George Chadderdon © 1993