"Don't Worry--Be Happy" Poster (poem)

I need that! Both
Your smiling face and
those exact words!

They added “Do Your Best. Then…”
to the little cards at one point
to rope in the hippies.
The time for responsibility.
No more loafers, stoners.
Finish college, get a job, even
wear a suit.

That was how the winds
were blowing then.
Now it’s different, I think.
I, at least, worry too much

and most of all I worry
whether I I’m doing my best!
How can we even know?
We all do our best to do
our best, don’t we?

Don Stevens was fortunate, Baba.
You removed his very
capacity to worry
the first day he met You.
You took mine away too,
but it came back some years later.

Elizabeth used to say not worrying
is Your ORDER!
But perhaps we can only
obey Your Orders
by Your Grace.

Baba, these days in the evenings
my wife and I stand
in front of the poster
I framed with a golden mat
twenty five years ago

and as the light
falls across Your face
we recite our prayers,
hands pressed together
over our hearts.

I see the why of
"When two or more
are gathered in My Name”
because saying them together
creates a channel
that solitary recitation
doesn’t always do.

Your eyes narrow
in their intent gaze
and You seem
so happy, Baba!

Worry flies away
as our concentration rests
entirely upon You
and on gently
harmonizing voices.

The very question
of doing my best
dissolves in the joy
that rises line by line.

*****
12/6/23 by m.r.
photo by m,.r.