The Paradox of Happiness

I wanted that man with the blue eyes

and the smooth voice that caressed 

without seeming to mean to, a trick 

worth learning I assure you

if you want to get in someone's pants

a sticky endeavor at the best of times

Happiness is but usually it isn't, getting what you want

Dinner came in courses, and wine

did its part. Those were the days

Dancing, his hand on my waist, mine

free to wander along shoulder and neck

Music is to romance as metaphor is 

to poets, gives us the shivers. By now

Resistance is futile. He gives in

to the pull and push, the go fast to go slow

Happiness is, and sometimes it isn't, getting what you want

What remains of that fleeting embrace

in memory or tangible reward?

Not even a name. A faint trace perhaps

of a feeling that something was missed

under the sheets in the dark. We kissed

as if going off to war, on a train, in the rain.

Happiness is, but try again when it isn't, getting what you want

(This form is called a Bop: 3 stanzas of 6, 8, 6 lines with a refrain, first states a problem, second expands on it, third offers a resolution. developed by poet Afaa Michael Weaver)