What does happiness mean

It seems like such a foreign idea

Is happiness about smiles and laughter

Or is it about love ever after

 

I seek to know

How to bring happiness into my life

How to live a life worth living

One where I am forgiving

And have no misgiving

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I want to be free

Free from anger and worry

A life where I embrace the here and now

Where I have nothing left to disavow

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I want to dance and sing

Live for today

Dream of tomorrow

Let go of all my sorrow

Everyone needs a favorite place on earth

One where you can close your eyes

And go

Whenever you are low

 

Mine is on a hill

With velvety green grass

The sounds of laughter

Where I don’t have to be an actor

 

There are girls of all ages

Behaving like sisters

Making friends that last forever

Just being clever

 

It is in the mountains

And there is a lake below

I sit and dream of time

When my heart was filled with friends

I never wanted it to end

 

Camp Akiba was my summer home

It is a place I could roam

From one spot to another

Feeling love and hope

Sitting on that mountain slope

 

I close my eyes

And I am there

Free to be me

A person who is free

I have a second family

The one that I collected along the way

People who came into my life

And I never want them to go away

 

I have had some since I was little

Some I picked up in college

Other came into my life through work

They each fill me with knowledge

 

Knowledge of self

Knowledge of things

Knowledge of life

Each without any strings

 

I love the family that I have chosen

To make me full

To make me whole

Who take no bull