Happiness is a Butterfly

There is no "will be" in happy. It is not conditional. One cannot claim with any authenticity "I will be happy when I get this or if I were healthy"... Happiness is a state of being. You are either "being" happy or not. It has no time frame-any moment it can suffuse your being with that glow which only later you recognize as happiness. The lack of that feeling is what we crave for and in our relentless pursuit of it we become more and more unhappy. And then we reason and justify- "If only"' "When I can"' If I had"- as conditions to achieving happiness and the more we chase it the more it eludes us. Happiness is a butterfly- beautiful, delicate, colorful and so near till you try and capture it....
HAPPINESS IS A BUTTERFLY

The more I long to hold
This feeling in my mind
It flies ahead and leaves me
Helplessly pining behind...

It flits ahead so tantalizingly close
And every time I get near
It just vanishes into the distance
Leaving me full of fear...

And the more I chase the futher it gets
Tormenting my very soul
In broken fragments I simply exist
Waiting for happiness to make me whole...

Until one day as clear as light
It suddenly dawned on me
That this exclusive prey that I did chase
Was something I could not see...

It was a feeling that filled me
When I was not even aware
And I only noticed it most
When I hardly did care!...

Happiness is a butterfly
It chooses its own flower
To capture it is futile
It is not within your power...

But when you stop your chasing
And not wait for it to alight
Why then your life will always be
Filled with sudden delight...

And this is what is happiness
Not a constant flow or stream
When it flies around the corner
Why then, life is like a dream!...

Nimmou Nilakantan