The incessant sounds of crickets
Surround me
On this otherwise quiet evening.
They spend their entire lives
Crying out for something they do not have:
Simple companionship.

Like these lonely insects
I spend most of my own too-short life
Dreaming of things I do not have
Wishing for things I do not need
When the mass of humanity would give anything
To have what I have
And too seldom appreciate:

My health
A wife who loves me
Children making their own way through life
Good friends
And leisure to spend these few simple moments
Listening to crickets
In the night.

This poem recognizes the simple truth that our near constant and insatiable desire for more and more material things only leads to our general unhappiness. We think that new car or new TV or latest cell phone will make us happy. But it doesn’t take long before the new gadget joins the long list of things we accumulate, and our yearning moves to the next great item we think we just have to have. True happiness comes not by acquiring more things, but rather from the relationships we build with others — our friends and family.