There are happy men in the world

I have seen them dance badly
at weddings in grocery aisles thronged at sports stadiums

Sometimes you find them at the bottoms of pools
If you dive in they give you a thumbs up

I don't know why some people hate them
I don’t know how happy men stitch quilts from laughter

Once I touched a happy man's belly
       and his skin began to glow

It was snowing he put me in his sidecar
and drove until the mountains gave up on us

Once I saw a happy man slip out of his happiness
A dozen other happy men gathered around him

They made for him a hairy palanquin out of their arms
Us onlookers vibrated from falling so swiftly in love

Even the sky toppled into a shade of pink
The happy men marched to the ocean pier

Light papered their shoulders like it does with bells
Sometimes to watch, to listen is a religion

My favorite hymn is the way happy men sing
until you cannot tell them apart