WHY AM I HAPPY?—A sonnet

WHY AM I HAPPY?—A sonnet


A friend one day put me in a tight fix,
Asking how I could be happy in life
Because in the year nineteen ninety six
I lost, of twenty five years, my dear wife.

He wondered why I work when I’m retired
(You see, he is exactly half my age).
He does not know old men whose hearts are fired.
I hope he works when he reaches my stage.

To work does not mean having stress or pain;
It means God’s kindness that I can still work.
An idle life I would hold in disdain.
Why from doing work should I ever shirk?

I thank God He chose me to make His tool
And trained my heart in His heavenly school.


*Written in response to what a young engineer, 35, in USA wrote to me while chatting--“You live pretty much independently, you work hard even while being retired, you toil day and night without a companion and yet you smile through it all. What resilience, Sir.”


M C Gupta
7 September 2012