What would it take to make you happy?

“Be happy for this moment. This moment is your life”- Omar Khayyam

What would it take, my inner voice whispered to me

For you to be content, be happy-

Let’s make a list and some items cross out

For instance, money it is not, without a doubt,

Is it your career, focused that you are?

No, I said, I could keep advancing but never get far

Enough to satisfy my ambition, that would not be

Conducive to finding contentment and happiness, really

Is it recognition in the society that you desire

Are fame and applause to which you aspire?

I thought hard, being renowned did sound great

But the glory of fame would be a temporary state

Lasting happiness would not be possible

On the basis of something that ephemeral

So I shook my head again, prompting that voice

To come up with alternatives, a better choice-

Is it good health and vigor that would be 

The key to your happiness and prosperity?

While good health is important, life might not 

Be free from illness throughout, then what?

How about having unlimited freedom, asked she

That should make one happy, certainly

That sounds attractive, but lack of restraint

Might leave me spoilt, I am no saint..

**

So our discourse continued, on and on

Many desirable things in life were touched upon

While everything had the power to give me

Short-lived contentment, being happy

In the long run required something less tangible

Perhaps, something that was indestructible…

She ventured to include friends and family

If they were with me, would I be happy?

Now we seemed to be getting closer, I thought

Close relationships are what I have always sought

Yet I felt a pressing need to further explore

The answer to this question, there was something more-

Exasperated, she asked me if I would be happy

If I could just live fully in the moment and not be

Bothered about the dead past or future unseen?

“Eureka” I cried, never before I had been

As overjoyed as now, finally I knew

What would make me happy, it was true

That being fully present in each life’s moment

Was the way I would find lasting contentment!