Classic and Contemporary Poetry
HAPPINESS, by WALT MASON Poet's Biography First Line: My neighbor johnsing can afford a lot of Last Line: It with a pole, when seeing what it's done for him. Subject(s): Happiness; Joy; Delight | ||||||||
MY neighbor Johnsing can afford a lot of things that I can not; yet I'm not envious or bored, beneath my collar I'm not hot. My neighbor Johnsing has a roll that's large enough to choke a steer; I contemplate him, and my soul is smiling still, from ear to ear. For one thing is supremely trueas some one said, in ringing tonesthat happiness has naught to do with what a human being owns. Old Masters hung upon the wall won't bring a nickel's worth of bliss. The rich man, in his gilded hall, is always saying things like this: "The gladdest time I ever spent, was when I lived in yonder shack, and had to husband every cent, to buy suspenders for my back." I like to have enough to eat, I like to have some clothes to wear, and caskets for my shapely feet, and gasoline to feed the mare. I like to feel, in dismal times, upon the day that's wet and dank, that I have half a dozen dimes in storage in the village bank. Let neighbor Johnsing view his roll, through tears that make his vision dim; I wouldn't touch it with a pole, when seeing what it's done for him. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE STUDY OF HAPPINESS by KENNETH KOCH SO MUCH HAPPINESS by NAOMI SHIHAB NYE CROWD CONDITIONS by JOHN ASHBERY I WILL NOT BE CLAIMED by MARVIN BELL THE BOOK OF THE DEAD MAN (#21): 1. ABOUT THE DEAD MAN'S HAPPINESS by MARVIN BELL |
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