You have to believe in happiness / Douglas Malloch

You have to believe in happiness

You have to believe in happiness,
Or happiness never comes.
I know that a bird chirps none the less
When all that he finds is crumbs.

     You have to believe the buds will blow,
     Believe in the grass in the days of snow.
     Ah, that’s the reason a bird can sing,
     On his darkest day he believes in Spring.

You have to believe in happiness —
It isn’t an outward thing.
The Spring never makes the song, I guess,
As much as the song the Spring.

     Aye, many a heart could find content
     If it saw the joy on the road it went,
     The joy ahead when it had to grieve,
     For the joy is there — but you have to believe.

~~
Douglas Malloch (1877-1938)

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada]

Douglas Malloch biography