Recurring Happiness

Happiness is temporary

And it can be recurring.

When my fellow shipmates and I

Circumnavigated the globe,

We saw boys and girls,

Barefoot, and boney,

Wearing unwashed,

Threadbare

T-shirts,
And shorts,

In Olongapo,
Karachi,

Mombasa,
And Moputo.

Their faces beamed joy

When we invited them to play

With a Frisbee

Or to toss a ball.

Their condition,
Raggedy as it was,

Didn’t diminish

The glee,

That made them free

Of poverty

For that short time.

Their laughing squeals,

And their radiating faces

Have followed me

All the way to this moment
Bringing me

A recurring happiness.