What Is Happiness?

Yesterday I had lunch with a friend at a Thai restaurant. He mentioned that he has family members who have been serving as missionaries in Hungary. It made me think of a poem I had read in Carl Sandburg’s Harvest Poems: 1910-1960. I shared the poem with him and he said he might agree if he could change the accordion for an acoustical guitar. Here it is for your consideration:

Happiness

 

I asked professors who teach the meaning of life to tell me what is happiness.
And I went to famous executives who boss the work of thousands of men.
They all shook their heads and gave me a smile as though I was trying to fool them.
And then one Sunday afternoon I wandered out along the Desplaines river.
And I saw a crowd of Hungarians under the trees with their women and children and a keg of beer and an accordion.

So I guess happiness is having women, children, beer and an accordion (or an acoustical guitar).