For a moment I forgot
that joy is unconditional —
I looked around, and saw,
then felt, the sadness
everywhere it lay along
the tragic and the casual
occurrences of unfulfilled conditions

The sighs arising
slip like wisps above them,
hover haunted, sink on down —
it’s easy to believe
no answer can be found for anyone

But joy is unconditional —
it cracks like a smile,
bounds up like a bubble,
flows, light filled,
through all the places
where things seemed so sad.
This is not a big problem, actually —
it’s just time to claim our heritage.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 29, 2019