Can joy be found in crumpled hearts, in empty rooms, and broken parts? Can it be found in desert earth, in washed-up dreams and faded worth? Can joy come when the rain outweighs the happy, blissful, sunny days? Or in the middle of our grief with words held tight between our teeth. Can joy be found in trembling hands, where nothing but the unknown stands? Where the unthinkable comes true and changes everything we knew. I wonder if joy even knows how to emerge when sorrow grows. Does it lay down beside the bed and still caress our weary head? And is joy really brave enough to walk along when things get tough? Is joy right there before our eyes but stuck between our heavy sighs? I hear joy say that it's okay to feel both joy and pain today. Whatever loss or lacking light, joy finds a way to make us bright. You see our lanterns glow the best when darkness comes to steal our rest. And just when sadness seems to win, joy trickles in.

~ullie-kaye