Seeking for Happiness

Seeking for happiness we must go slowly;

The road leads not down avenues of haste;

But often gently winds through by ways lowly,

Whose hidden pleasures are serene and chaste.

Seeking for happiness we must take heed

Of simple joys that are not found in speed.

Eager for noon-time's large effulgent splendour,

Too oft we miss the beauty of the dawn,

Which tiptoes by us, evanescent, tender,

Its pure delights unrecognised till gone.

Seeking for happiness we needs must care

For all the little things that make life fair.

Dreaming of future pleasures and achievements

We must not let today starve at our door;

Nor wait till after losses and bereavements

Before we count the riches in our store.

Seeking for happiness we must prize this—

Not what will be, or was, but that which is.

In simple pathways hand in hand with duty

(With faith and love, too, ever at her side),

May happiness be met in all her beauty

The while we search for her both far and wide.

Seeking for happiness we find the way

Doing the things we ought to do each day.