Happy
by
Matt Zurbo
Archie was happy, though he didn’t know why.
“I just want to smile,” he told passers by.
“Maybe it could be, it’s such a beautiful day?”
people Archie didn’t know, decided to say.
“Or maybe it’s that you’re young and free?”
as if that was what they wished to be.
“Come on!” they insisted, “Give us your reason!”
“Is it because it’s that sweet, time of the season?”
“No, no, and no,” Archie firmly said.
“Though they’re all great reasons to not wake up dead.”
“I’m just happy, without any cause at all!
Why need an excuse to have yourself a ball?”
Well, that got the crowd, in a real snit!
They demanded explanations, and lickerty-split!
“Maybe you’ve seen, the animals at the zoo,
running free and wild, as happy as you?”
“Or could it be, the monsters under your bed,
promised when you asleep, to not eat your head?”
“Nope, nada, zip,” Archie waved a happy hand.
“I think I might form an artsy, fartsy band!”
“Look!” the crowd raged, they’d had enough.
“Give us an excuse! You’re making us quite gruff!”
“It might be you’re that kid, that runs very, very fast,
or maybe you just finished, at the top of your class!”
But Archie came fifth, in a foot race of four,
in class he was always, running for the door.
“I just feel glad,” he smiled, rather than be sad,
sharing a good mood, rather than one bad.
“ENOUGH!” the people raged, “WE WANT A REASON, NOW!”
They frothed and they ranted, they bayed and they howled!
The furious mob, decided to put Archie in a cage,
they then tossed about, with their aimless rage.
“Okay,” sighed Archie, finally conceding defeat,
“I’ll tell you all why I feel, as if I can’t be beat.”
“I look at your faces, each one ready to pop,
over nothing at all, like many grumpy sops.”
“It’s kind of funny, which makes me kind of glad,
that I am not so grumpy, that I am not so mad.”
“So WE’RE to blame!?” they angrily oinked,
each one totally missing, Archie’s fine point:
Loosen up, be happy, when and while you can.
Feel good without reason? Then run with it, man!
But it was too late for them, to make further fuss,
Archie had taken off, smiling on a bus.
Which ironically made, the crowd’s bad mood clear,
all of them happy at last, without good moods to fear!
The End
365 kids books in 365 days 