Life is best lived with joy in the heart
It leads to strength, endurance and fortitude
It is deep, profound, lasting and transcendental
Much unlike happiness which fades with time
And depends on outward circumstances
Devolving solely from pleasurable activities
With joy life's journeys are easier to chart
With a throng or in beautiful solitude
While happiness can largely be mental
Real joy is often inexplicable and sublime
Many times I have called joy an inner stance
Because happiness often comes with festivities.
Joy, like a river stems from a known source
And it flows unending through its course
Happiness comes in starts and stops
With an unfortunate event away it hops
Joy remains and weathers every storm
When happiness has slinked away like a worm
I could go on and on
till the break of dawn
And feel absolutely no pain
For Heaven's joy on Earth I gain
When in God’s joy I bask
And it's mine whenever I ask.
John O. Iyaniwura
