I read all the other poems listed on the syllabus and I am not much of writing poetry in my free time, let alone rhyming it. I have having trouble translating one of the given poems or writing like the poets, so I created my own poem on happiness. I don’t even know if you can call it a poem. But hopefully someone out there likes it for what it is: few simple words 🙂
stop waiting!
no more! no more!
until you finish college
until you have the job
until you retire
until you pay off the mortgage
until you get married
until you have children
until you find true love
until you get that promotion
until all the seasons pass you by
until you get the PHD
until you have the perfect house
until you go Green
until you go to the gym
until you travel to Europe
stop waiting
live in the moment
be happy
the greatest emotion
of all
making us feel good
a smile crossing our face
a warm fuzzy feeling
at peace
at rest
Wow, this is a great poem and I can relate to it too. I agree that people do focus a lot, possibly too much, on their future. I think that, sometimes, we would be better off focussing on the present instead of constantly worrying about how our actions will effect our future. Don’t get me wrong, thinking about the future is important, but we shouldn’t do it excessively. Doing so wouldn’t allow us to truly appreciate the present.
I also agree with what you said about living in the moment. We usually think to ourselves, “I’ll be happy when…” or “I’ll be happy as soon as…..” and this leaves us unsatisfied because as soon as we obtain that think that we always wanted, we’ll just want something else.
I think this is a great poem that carries an important message of happiness (which relates to the theme of the class). Nowadays, many people, if not everyone, strive to make their future a promising one, and in doing so they lose sight of what it is like to happy. A lot of the times I do things that don’t particularly make me happy, such as writing a 4 page paper or studying for an exam, in hopes of attaining good grades which will make me happy. This idea also relates to the purpose of “Stumbling on Happiness” in which Gilbert attempts to explain why things we do now (that we think will make us happier and our futures better and brighter) don’t please us as much in the future as we expect them to.
I think you can definitely call this poem and I think it’s lovely. I enjoyed reading it in it’s simplicity. It contains a very important message and we all need reminding of it sometimes. It’s also very easy to relate to and I think that’s the best part of it. Thanks for reminding me to be happy and great work with your use of repetition!