In Search Of A Secret Poem by Vishorag Shadja

What is the secret of happiness?
She asked with all the innocence,
Maybe a short respite from sadness,
I replied with ignorance.

That day when she walked away,
I brooded about what it was.
That made a person happy or sad-
The answer is to be had;

Maybe I didn't want to discover,
What it truly means to be happy...
Coz I might not like what I uncover,
As realization is often quite heavy.

But the question loomed and lingered,
In a cozy house it was sheltered.
The simplest of emotions that stirs,
All that ever genuinely matters..

Packing up I set off to find,
The answer to a question that many-
Have searched for but not savvy,
Having in the corner of their mind.

Scaling mountains and hills,
Enduring rain, squalls and chills.
Walking through the desert-
Finding shelter with a cohort...

Gaining and learning those most-
Things that I was ignorant toward,
Subtleties of life, death and so Fost.
Only way was ahead and forward.

Seeking the one thing I couldn't find,
Changing shades of grey hair,
And the numbing slow mind-
Also, the growing despair…

Cumulating but fading memories,
Nudging me to head back…
I arrive to multiple parties,
And no welcome for my comeback…

Grown up daughter Ellie,
Walks up and asks me -
"Did you find the answer? "
I say Yes with immense glee…

‘What is it" she asks yet seemed aloof,
"It is everywhere and also, implicit" I say…
She asks "For this to realize what did you pay"
"Everything" and I have proof.

Fingers through my grey hair,
We all huddle around and brood..
It isn't a secret at all I swear,
Happiness was just around the hood.