I am attending a conference next week about bringing back the joy that we used to have in healthcare/nursing/medicine. They have requested that we bring a poem, picture, or something, that brings us joy. I really want to bring a poem, but I can't settle on anything. Mostly I've been looking at the funny ones because they do bring me joy (Milne, Carroll, Nash, etc.), but I wondered if people here could post ones that give you joy to give me a wider perspective. I might get some different ideas.

I will still do my homework myself, I promise!

I'm not big on joyous poetry but I have got a couple of pieces (out of literally thousands) that express joy.

So, here, have one of mine.

EnJOY

Morning in the Karlak Mountains

I need a mystic camera
To capture the moment, hold it forever
In an amber slice of time.
I need to capture the infinite
Shades of brown and green
Of the grass, the moss, the pine.
I need to capture the sun
That paints diamonds on the river
And stripes upon the ground.
I need to capture the gathered gloom
As I look towards the hill
Where the trees are huddled round.
I need to capture the chattering
Whining, buzzing of the insects
Hanging unseen in the air,
The ever changing never changing
Murmur of the tumbling water
That cascades down natures stair.
I need to capture the morning smell
Of hay, and summer and rotting wood
And the warming earth
And the still calm tranquillity
Of this moment in the mountains
This new day's birth.
I have my mystic camera
The words that stir the memory
The words that try
To re-conjure with a phrase the moment
I have the perfect mystic camera,
The lens of the mind's eye.

Oh, thank you, Bob. It is beautiful!

I don't think the poem has to be about joy, per se, but it just makes me feel joyous. That's why I like some of the funny ones.

Well, there is Schiller's Ode to Joy probably best known for its musical setting in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

Oh, arnie, I adore Ode to Joy! That's a great idea!