The year passes quietly
but heartbeat fast
then we bury it in shame
We sit no more at the end of the day
and name Three Beautiful Things:
a pink sky, chocolate, a smile,
a duck, or praisegiving
for a good deed done
You're all grown now –
and then that silly rule:
adults don’t glean Big Happiness
from small joys
like sparkly crystals in a chemistry set
gathering dust on the shelf
next to the magic box
We cover up old disappointments
with new
layer over layer
we drown promise in worries
that never turn out the way we predict
And still we divine in the future
fulfillment
that tempts us from afar
like happiness passed over
or the promise found empty
and we confuse the present
with the past
and we forget:
It’s never over
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Katharina Körting is a journalist, author and award-winning poet and lives in Berlin.