Looking for Joy
By Lisa Vihos – Sheboygan Poet Laureate
For so many years,
I’ve been looking for Joy.
She’s always been
ten steps ahead of me.
Clever girl. She was always
on the run, hard to catch.
I followed her footprints
up many mountains and down
to the sea. Never could I keep her
near me. But last night,
in a circle of wise old women,
wrinkled and weary, there she was.
She didn’t leave for hours,
as we shared our stories. Maybe,
now that I am becoming old,
Joy will come find me
and sit with me, like she did
when I was a child.
If Joy would give me her attention,
I would ask her, what kind of house
would you like? What kind of bed
do you need? I would ask her,
why are you so fleeting, Joy?
What on earth are you looking for?
(Note: This poem first appeared in The Aging Poems, Water’s Edge Press, 2018.)