happiness is a bird (or "A Song for H")

Yeah, it's confusing why this image is used for this post.... Sometime last year, in the middle of dinner, a friend asked me - "are you happy?" I didn't give it much thought and answered with whatever was at the top of my head. Happiness is a bird. "Happiness" always feels like an approximation for something else. Scratch beneath that word a little and you may discover other words for what you are trying to express. For example, you may feel pride, you feel a sense of purpose, you feel a sense of community, you feel connected, you feel loved, you feel pleasure, you feel joy, you feel secure, you feel hopeful... And in this long list of feelings and possible states of mind, some of which endure and permeate our being, happiness is perhaps the most slight. Below is a short piece "A Song for H" on happiness. It was written last year as a tribute and reply to that 1949 classic Hank Williams country love song "I'm so lonesome I could cry"