JOY by Murray Hidary

Where does joy reside?

We look for it on the horizon,
that perfect life 

just out of reach,
the horizon always 
slipping further away.

What if joy cannot be sought,
but only found?

in the moment
we stop chasing.

Isn’t Joy here?
that quiet radiance
we keep misplacing.

And when you turn toward it,
Joy steps beside you,
slips her arm through yours,
leans her head
lightly on your shoulder,
and walks with you,
step for step,
neither hurried
nor afraid.

She knows the road is hard.
She knows the weight you carry
and does not ask you
to put it down.

Where pain stretches us 
in one direction 
we expand in the other. 

Joy is not the opposite of sorrow.
She is the quiet companion
who appears beside it,
reminding us
that even in the deepest ache
there is a pulse
still willing
to find its way 
back to the surface.

Can joy be in your laughter and in your tears? 
In the sweetness and the sadness?
All of it nested in the mystery. 

To see anew.
not how the world is,
but that it is at all,
that you are at all. 

Joy is always there to be had. 
And everything is here to bring us joy. 

Enduring joy as what we are.
Not because of,
but being the cause of. 

To feel the aliveness 
[of the rain on your body.]
To feel the joy coming in 
and the joy beaming out.
And at just the right moment 
that point where they meet dissolves…
And you just are. 
In joy. 
As joy. 

Unbounded Joy.

If you listen closely,
you will hear her say:

Stay,
Stay long enough
to feel the world
lean gently toward you.

Because joy,
despite your doubt,
has been following you
for years
and now,
finally,
wants to lead you
home.