Desanka Maksimovic

Joy

Joy - meaning Summary

Quiet Presence as Joy

The poem defines joy not as exuberant laughter but as the calm of shared presence. The speaker measures time by the beloved’s coming and going rather than clocks, and finds fulfillment in silent companionship where two hearts beat together. There is acceptance of mortality and the passing of youth; the speaker willingly lets go of other concerns because being enthralled beside the beloved makes loss bearable. Overall, the poem presents mature, steady love as a form of completion that quiets urgency and reorders priorities toward presence and mutual belonging.

Read Complete Analyses

I no longer watch the hands turn, nor track the sun’s hot path; Day is here when his eyes return, and night again when they depart. Joy does not mean laughter, and his yearning outweighing mine; Joy to me is when we’re silent, and our hearts in tandem chime. I do not rue that life’s rivers will carry off my own life’s drop; Now blast youth and all to smither’s; Enthralled beside me he has stopped.

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