Recall the days, not long ago,

When you were but a pup,

And all the world was marvelous,

Nowhere to grow but up.

 

With each new dawn came new delights,

To learn, to act, to feel;

Your mind began to know itself,

Your notions to congeal.

 

And one such notion ran beneath,

Became your driving force;

It bubbled up within you

And by it you set your course.

 

The goal of life seemed simple then,

An unobstructed aim:

You’d live to find the joy in life;

Didn’t others do the same?

 

But with the years came down the shade

That dimmed the light of ease,

And tucked away those high-set goals

Despite their desperate pleas.

 

Decisions were then made for sense,

Economy came first,

And life turned gray and cold and sour,

Like rotting liverwurst.

 

Then one day from the ancient

Buried depths within you rose

That old instinct geared toward happiness

To fill you to the toes.

 

You saw the world through childhood eyes

As all that it could be,

A gleaming realm stretched to the hills

In joyful majesty!

 

You saw the good to be embraced,

To make your spirit whole,

Fill heart with love and mind with skill

And ears with rock and roll.

 

Joy’s your favorite book, that song you hum,

Time spent with those you love,

A rainy day, a mountain hike,

The splendid stars above.

 

It’s simple things that mean the world,

That cause a sense of awe,

For everything is awesome

When from life’s rich well you draw.