Happiness – Poetry by Markus Hamence, May 2026

Them: “You look happier?”
Me: “Yeah, maybe I am.”

Maybe it’s the way I stopped
watering dead conversations
like wilted houseplants
that never wanted the sun anyway.

Maybe it’s because
I learnt silence is not empty,
it’s a room where your spirit
finally hears itself breathe.

I don’t carry every storm now.
I let some rain pass through
without naming it as tragedy.

I open the windows more.
Let music (Marley and Simone) drift through the rooms.
Let the light touch the leaves
of the plants climbing my indoor jungle walls.

I stopped chasing people
who only loved me
when I was dim enough
to stand beside them quietly.

“You look happier?”

Yeah, but, maybe happiness
is just what happens
when you return to yourself
without apology.