We must risk delight.  We can do without pleasure,
but not delight.  Not enjoyment.  We must have
the stubbornness to accept our gladness in the ruthless
furnace of this world.  To make injustice the only
measure of our attention is to praise the Devil.
If the locomotive of the Lord runs us down,
we should give thanks that the end had magnitude.
We must admit there will be music despite everything.

    Oh, good scholar,
        I say to myself,
            how can you help
 
but grow wise
    with such teachings
        as these -
            the untrimmable light
 
of the world,
    the ocean's shine,
        the prayers that are made
            out of grass?

Happiness
A state you dare not enter
    with hopes of staying,
quicksand in the marshes, and all

the roads leading to a castle
    that doesn’t exist.
But there it is, as promised,

with its perfect bridge above
    the crocodiles,
and its doors forever open.

We're all attracted to the perfume
of fermenting joy,
we've all tried to start a fire,
and one day maybe it will blaze up on its own.
In the meantime, she is the one today among us
most able to bear the idea of her own beauty...