“O Happiness! O Happiness!”

How far I have wandered in search of you.

I followed every road the world had shown me,
chased its promises,
tasted its pleasures,
gathered all that I was told would make me whole.

Yet the more I held,
the more I longed.
The farther I traveled,
the farther you seemed.

Until one day,
by no grand design,
I stumbled upon an ancient path
where nothing needed to be gained,
and nothing needed to be guarded.

One quiet morning,
I sat with all the gifts this life had given me.
Gratitude rose like the morning sun,
and my restless mind grew still.

Then, as I loosened my final grasp,
even the longing for liberation fell away.

And there you were.

O happiness, O happiness!
Not the joy of possessing,
nor the sweetness of becoming,
but the boundless freedom
of being enough.

I have only tasted a drop
from this great river.
Its waters still run beyond my sight,
through valleys I have yet to cross.

There will be storms,
and days when I forget the way.
But how could I doubt the river
having tasted its water?

O happiness, O happiness,
I once searched the whole world for you,
only to find you
in the quiet space
of an unguarded heart.