It's always
more of the case
that I can't-
gladly I accept
and allow
others
to sit in front

the world teems
in endless talent
the moth can never
reach for the star
I know from what
such people have done

in a quiet little corner
I watch and listen
hoping to learn
knowing my lessons
have just begun

my case
I rest
just being myself
is enough gladness
and daily fun

* from Shelley

Only being empty
can one be free:
all else is burden
and unhappiness -laden

Don't give me love
if I don't deserve
if you do
for life such
I'll preserve:
untainted
and time
will bear witness

love-- only a word
but pure and sacred
as a prayer said
in a temple
or a church

how brief
life is
a frail leave
on a stem
to be shaken
by the winds
and fallen
easily to the sod

to you
I must come
ere it's too late

as I've been loved-
the world entire
now belongs to me:
unto you mine
I'll with my life
faithfully reciprocate

The quality of happiness of an ordinary person, even an uneducated or lowly one, can be much richer than that of a wealthy or an intellectual person's as it's uniquely its own and can't be compared with that of another.  

Call this a gift or grace but of such I've no doubt at all as I've known such people.

We should never say someone is happier than we are-
what happiness we have, even a little, is itself adequate blessing.

No one knows
my name
the winds blow
past me--all the same

all I want
is to be alone
with nothing to claim
only myself to own

I can't be
more than others
but to myself
will be no less

Life has to be lived
with some tension
lest it begins to sag
and reduces a person

for to rise above
the mundane
one can't afford
to be complacent

look at genius
and people with passion
for the highest they pitch
in every season

observe how
they embrace every moment
as though it's an epiphany
lest its. beauty be stolen