“Happiness” - Wayne Johns
As in a picture book, the rooms fold in on themselves. Time to turn the page. Low clouds pass quick as memories, taking and giving back the sun. This morning, searching boxes again for nothing particular, for anything at all, I find the mood ring bought as a gag gift in a gas station. Didn't I even slip it on your finger? I hope you found the mock proposal charming, or at least sincere? Our union would have still been illegal then. The ring said you were "Very Happy." I hope you're happy, finally unhaunted, now. My mother used to say that— I hope you're happy. Of course, she meant something more like Just look at the mess you've made! Though she was also willing to suffer so another might know joy. I tried it on. The color turned "Unsettled." Well, it is the month of your birth. Almost time to turn back the clocks. This afternoon, like an alarm, a thunderstorm rolls in. And then another sunset that stuns.
