[Newspoetry] Happiness.

[DL Emerick]

Happiness.

The story is quite easy,
the most horrifying story,
whether in book or on film.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Have to think about that title,
now that Asian bird flu is about.

The lead character finds happiness.
It comes at horrible price,
almost a post-modern paradox.

We took your brain away,
and now you are happy,
completely and wonderfully happy,
but, of course, you'll never know it.

Happiness, in lesser degrees,
is always a matter of forgetting,
a bit of this or of that.

We think innocence is bliss,
for its ignorance,
not ignoring, of course,
but not even knowing, at all,
like a child, or a simpleton,
or, possibly, Ronald Reagan,
even before Altzheimer's hit him.

Happiness depends on forgetting,
for awhile and not forever,
a world crushing against you,
demanding you attend to it.