Lost-Missing a sense of humor

How are your bones feeling today? Do they need to be tickled?

I once believed that happiness was an elusive emotion that only lucky people, who had never experienced any type of pain, were able to enjoy. Of course, that was when I was young and ignorant of real life. Now that I've had to endure a few maturity molding experiences, I realize that everyone can feel happiness, if they desire. 

A sense of humor can help to make a bad situation turn around for good. It's really is all about how we look at things. In Proverbs 17:22, King Solomon states that "A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones."

It's really up to each of us to cultivate joy in our souls, hearts, and minds, and to pass it along to others. Happiness needs to be shared. I don't mean that one should brag of their successes or, to boast of their material possessions but, rather to share the joys of what we have in common. The things that make us smile and laugh.

I want to leave you with a poem that Julie Andrews, (from the Sound of Music) a singer and actress wrote. She wrote a lot of neat poems and I'd like to share this one with you. I hope it makes you smile.

Missing

I've lost my sense of humor,
It fell into a well.
That's full of dark self-pity,
As far as I can tell.

I'm glared at by the children.
I'm yelled at by the boss
And every little word I say
Makes everybody cross.

I'd run away and not come back
It it would do some good.
But nobody would notice
So I don't think I should.

I miss my sense of humor
And if, by chance, you see
It peeking round a corner
Please send it back to me.

A sleepless night

This poem comes from a book entitled Julie Andrew's collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies.

Little did I know that I would use the advice in this poem when my son came to me in the middle of the night telling me he couldn't sleep. He was worrying about our truck breaking down this weekend and thought he was responsible. I knew he wasn't. I suggested he think of an episode we had recently watched together called Man in a hurry from an Andy Griffith's DVD collection. (I love the old sitcoms.) He said okay and went to back to bed.

In Man in a hurry a stranger drives by the town of Mayberry on a Sunday when his car suddenly breaks down. He desperately tries to get his car fixed but everybody he meets in Mayberry is enjoying the day. No one understands this city man's hurry. You could feel the stranger's tension by his movements and the words he says when he becomes frustrated with the sheriff Andy Taylor, Aunt Bea and Barney while they peel apples, eat ice cream and sing on the porch. The man in a hurry angrily tells them that their town is behind the times.

When his car is finally fixed, to his amazement there is no charge for the car repairs. It was a pleasure for Gomer and Goober to fix it and they even took liberty to take a picture of themselves standing next to it. Andy tells the man he can stay the night if he likes and leave in the morning.

The man declines and eagerly starts his car. Aunt Bea rushes inside and comes out again with a lunch bag of chicken for him to eat on the way. Opie gives him his special penny for good luck. Andy then tells him to drop by anytime when he comes through again. As the man looks at everyone waving and smiling at him he suddenly realizes what a lovely place Mayberry is and he wants to stay for the night. He makes up an excuse why he can't leave. Andy catches on to man's excuss. Soon after they resume listening to Andy play the guitar and the man falls asleep on the porch with a peeled apple in his hand. 

Now wouldn't that put you to sleep.

The Trick

One night, when I couldn't sleep,
My dad said
Think of the tomatoes in the greenhouse

and I did.
It wasn't the same as counting sheep
Or anything like that.

It was just not being in my room forever
On a hot bed
Restless, turning and turning,

But out there, with the patient gaze of moonlight
Blessing each ripe skin
and our old zinc watering-can with its sprinkler,

Shining through a clear glass pane
Which slowly clouded over into
Drowsy, comfortable darkness

Till I woke and came downstairs to breakfast
Saying Thank you, Dad,
I thought of them. It did the trick.

by John Mole 

Any Little Old Song

After experiencing feelings of waning interest, I've decided I would keep working on this blog. But to make it interesting and easier for me, I'm going to do it differently. Instead of interjecting my own ramblings about life or poetry, I'm going to post a poem someone else wrote. I hope it will lift people's hearts and provide intellectual stimulation. If I have information about the author I will add that. So here is the first poem to start things off.

Written by Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) born in Dorset, England. He wrote about 1,000 poems and earned several honorary degrees. Thomas Hardy never received the recognition due him for his poetic form and is considered one of the great influences on modern English poetry.

Any Little Old Song
by Thomas Hardy

Any little old song
will do for me,
Tell it of joys gone long,
or joys to be,
or friendly faces best
loved to see.

Newest themes I want not
On subtle strings,
and for thrillings pant not
that new song brings:
I only need the homeliest
of heart-stirrings.