black market

I wonder if you can buy happiness on the black market
it fits all the qualities, rare, hard to get, sometimes fraudulent
I think seven billion people on the rise would pay an arm and a leg for it
well probably more than that because an arm costs $385
and a leg costs similar on the black market
And I know people who would pay a million
just for a sip of feeling alive
of joy sliding down your throat into your stomach like warm wine
I wonder how'd they steal it and who even has it to steal from
perhaps they extract the songs from the vocal cords of lovers
collect them in jars in the back of a van
what a place to keep happiness trapped
perhaps they steal them from the bellies of children while they sleep
they always were so innocent
but then maybe the sellers would just want to keep it to themselves
in a sweeping gesture of desperation they'd drink every jar
I think, that in one way or another, we all just want to be happy.

-anna sluder 

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