I Wrest My Joy

Lui Collins

I wrest my joy in brief moments
from among the hours of life’s cruelty

Like a quick breath in a dark and strident horn passage
in a Strauss concerto

Or the bobbing bright yellow head of a dandelion
pushing its way through a crack
in cold concrete

So I wrest my joy where I may

Yet just as the intermission between acts
of a Greek tragedy
is a respite of reality
within the illusion

And just as the silence exists before the brash music
and continues after the last tones fade away

So earth’s rich soil shall reign
when concrete crumbles into rubble

So joy both pre-exists and survives
this illusion of human misery.

November 10, 2000