Published February 16, 2025
What is it like to be happy?
What is it like to be free from the weight of despair,
To wander without the shadows of doubt?
To no longer search for a light you’re not sure exists,
Yet feel it dance just beyond your grasp?
Do you ponder if happiness unlocks the door to freedom?
If the relentless grip of sorrow finally let go,
Would you leap into the unknown,
Or cower in the familiar dark?
Does happiness often feel just out of reach?
A whisper of promise,
Teasing your heart with what could be,
Yet leaving you questioning its truth?
Do you wonder how joy might change you?
If it crept into your life,
Would you remain the same,
Or would you lose fragments of yourself along the way?
If you have, you’re not alone.
In fact, you’re just like me.
Always uncertain.
Always angry.
Always hollow.
Always broken.
Always forgotten.
Always unloved.
Always captive to the claws of guilt and sadness.
Always the same.
Over.
And over.
And over again.
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140,258 Literary Works • 673,075 Reviews
I love this poem.
"If the relentless grip of sorrow finally let go,
Would you leap into the unknown,
Or cower in the familiar dark?" this part is relatable on unreal levels. Having the chance to finally fell/be free from the sorrow and unrelentless sadness but coming to the choice between going and staying because ultimately you realize that you feel comfort in the sadness and pain, because that is all you have known for as long as you can remember.
"Do you wonder how joy might change you?
If it crept into your life,
Would you remain the same,
Or would you lose fragments of yourself along the way?" this part I see as you asking if you think finally expecting happiness and peace will change you because ultimately it will. and you want to know if you will stay the same, hurting, angry, unloved, forgotten. or if you'll change and lose pieces of yourself, because that sad hurt version of you is a part of you no matter what and you're not sure if you are willing to lose it because if you do its almost as if it never happened. Keep writing.
Happiness is used so loosely that it has different meanings to other people. Although the feeling of happiness is so hard to come by. The feeling is what so many people search for in life to get away from the darkness of the world. I am one of those people. When you say "Yet feel it dance just beyond your grasp?" that pained me because it does feel as if it is. No one can be happy forever and you wrote these questions that many people ask within a poem. Your writing is making me wonder if anyone can ever be truly happy all the time.
Hi there! I really enjoyed this piece. The first thing that stood out to me was how you asked so many questions. This made it easy for me to relate right away and kept me engaged. I like how you use the bold text to separate the poem and to have these different sections, but also emphasize important messages.
I really liked this quote above. I love how you described the light as 'dancing' and gave it that human like characteristic. This painted a very pretty image and feeling in my head. I get that feeling of yearning for something, having that hope, but having it be just too far out of reach- it almost feels desperate.
The poem feels very direct and geared towards the audience, like the goal is to make me feel like I can relate, which I totally did! You write all of these different attributes that you have and list them in a way that made me feel like I understand how you feel. Normally, poems that I read are geared towards helping the writer express a message for their own purpose, but I love how this poem feels like a comfort to others who you do not even know. But we can all still relate and connect through it
Overall. this is a very lovely poem and I love your writing style. I hope to see more of your poems soon!
Your friend,
Ellie
Hello!! this is AkuRashomon, checking in this site again because I want to seek inspiration to write hehe and @Nikkythecatlover12 has been the lucky one I'm reviewing today. this piece was beautiful but so painfully good, if that makes sense. the beauty of not knowing the feeling of happiness. the feeling of emptiness, and has it is stated: despair and doubt is just the things you feel in your heart.
sometimes, people feel this way, especially in this generation, and people lost hope thinking that they will never experience the feeling of joy. I feel like the one who wrote this, is feeling that way because writers love to crash out about their feelings on paper and into dramatic poetry. I am terribly sorry if you feel this way. all I have to say to you, is not to lose hope. the 'light' will appear you, keep searching for it and keep that hope in your heart and mind. even at your darkest times, always think that you will still feel happiness in the end.
I like the structure of this type of poetry, what type of poem is this piece? let me know because you sound like you mixed the old literature style with the new one. over all, you did great and you are great. keep it up!!
Thanks for the review! By the way, yes, I used a mix of the old literature style and the new one.