Dear Joy,

I will never understand you.

 

I can see you in the eyes of my daughter

and in the laugh of the bearded man I love.

I feel you as I stare at multicolor sunsets and

watch as the waves gently kiss the sand.

 

And yet, as I lose everything,

You are a flickering candle that refuses to be blown out.

 

It is then you I feel staring at me

As I sit with tear stained cheeks.

I feel you with me as I close my eyes

To numb the darkness creeping from beneath.

 

Though all else seems to fade,

Still it is you who remains the same.

 

Perhaps this is why you are different.

 

You fight to make yourself known,

Edging me on to smile at my demons.

Battling through emotional war day after day

Because you want your flag raised at the end.

 

You never give up.

Never leave me.

Never cease to amaze me.

 

And even now,

as I sit watching in the eye of the hurricane

I can see the storm brewing in the distant

I laugh because Joy, you are with me.

 

-The Joyful