Money can buy happiness.
Just ask a three-year old who has just heard the slightest tinklings
of the ice cream truck.
On the hottest of summer’s days,
all gather, sweltering, in the back yard–
slowly baking in the sun…
And at three o’clock,
every summer afternoon
a garbled version of
Yankee Doodle Dandy
sounds its clarion call
from the next neighborhood.
There is more clamoring and excitement
than for the Wells Fargo Wagon,
Christmas
and
Easter, all combined.
Because, in this moment,
for $2.95
you can feel the sweet coolness
of popsicle
or ice cream
slide down your gullet.
Holier than communion,
more durable than a pinky swear,
just pure happiness
on a summer afternoon.