Happiness by Raymond Carver
So early it's still almost dark out.
I'm near the window with coffee,
and the usual early morning stuff
that passes for thought.
When I see the boy and his friend
walking up the road
to deliver the newspaper.
They wear caps and sweaters,
and one boy has a bag over his shoulder.
They are so happy
they aren't saying anything, these boys.
I think if they could, they would take
each other's arm.
It's early in the morning,
and they are doing this thing together.
They come on, slowly.
The sky is taking on light,
though the moon still hangs pale over the water.
Such beauty that for a minute
death and ambition, even love,
doesn't enter into this.
Happiness. It comes on
unexpectedly. And goes beyond, really,
any early morning talk about it.
I'm near the window with coffee,
and the usual early morning stuff
that passes for thought.
When I see the boy and his friend
walking up the road
to deliver the newspaper.
They wear caps and sweaters,
and one boy has a bag over his shoulder.
They are so happy
they aren't saying anything, these boys.
I think if they could, they would take
each other's arm.
It's early in the morning,
and they are doing this thing together.
They come on, slowly.
The sky is taking on light,
though the moon still hangs pale over the water.
Such beauty that for a minute
death and ambition, even love,
doesn't enter into this.
Happiness. It comes on
unexpectedly. And goes beyond, really,
any early morning talk about it.
Thinking back on my own high school graduation parting quote, I neglected to hand one in and was forced the day before the yearbook was going in for print to figure something out. In other words, I had to go off the cuff with my homeroom teacher standing over me. I blame her for my horrible writer's block that day.
The reason behind my neglecting to hand my quote in on its due date has a little something to do with my obsession with coming up with brilliance and originality in 30 words or less. I imagined someone dusting off the 2002 Villa Maria yearbook in the year 2018, and upon finding my picture thinking, "God I wish I still knew that chick. Not only was she gorgeous but she was really something." You don't need to tell me I'm self-absorbed and ego-fanatical.
Anyway, like most of my ideas, the genius parting quote was great in theory but never came to fruition. Somehow the words, "We may not have had it all together, but together we had it all," spewed from my mind and on to the page that very last day. I mean, I could have gone for the "too cool for school" look and kept my quote area blank, but my Mom would have yelled at me and I was already in enough trouble at the time.
What an awful friggin' quote though right? Where did it come from? What does it even mean? Okay, I know what it means. It means we were all out of our minds individually, but somehow we came together and took the world by storm. In our own little way, maybe we did. But that's beside the point.
Happiness. It comes on
unexpectedly. And goes beyond, really,
any early morning talk about it.
unexpectedly. And goes beyond, really,
any early morning talk about it.
My real parting quote tonight. Goodnight all.
No comments:
Post a Comment