Happiness
by Raymond Carver from All of Us: the Collected Poems
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.
© 1985 by Raymond Carver
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that's nice. I like it.
ReplyDeleteI remember my cousins had paper routes in Grand Rapids, MI. I thought it was wierd that somewhere in the world they still used teenage boys to deliver papers from big sling sacks over their shoulders.
its a happy small town phenomenon.