Happiness, it is so small,
So small that sometimes we don’t see it,
So we seek it, we seek it everywhere.
It is there, in the tree that sings in the wind,
The bird whistles it in the sky,
The river murmurs it,
The stream whispers it,
The sun, the raindrop say it.
You can see it there, in the eyes of the child,
The bread that we break and that we share,
The hand that we give.
Happiness, it is so small,
So small that sometimes we don’t see it,
And we seek it in concrete, steel,
Fortune,
But happiness is not there,
Neither in wealth nor comfort.
We want to build it but it is there,
Next to us, and we pass without seeing it,
Because happiness is very small.
It does not hide,
That is its secret.
It is there, near us.
Maurice Carême, « Happiness is so small »
