A gaggle of girls
in a café,
greeting, smiling,
asking — “Is it your usual today?”
People come in grumpy
but leave with a smile.
Welcome to Café Happy —
the toughest place by a mile.
The girls never sit or rest:
taking orders,
making perfect breakfasts.
I ask one of the cheery ones,
“How do you always smile,
and never fuss?”
She says, “I love what I do.”
Me thinks,
What’s the big deal?
She just sells coffee.
She catches my thoughts,
She catches my thoughts,
“I don’t just sell coffee.
I soothe their bitterness
for a while.
They drink a cup
and are happy again —
is that not enough
to love what I do?”
I think again,
and this time, while taking that first sip,
I understand what she meant.
It did take my ignorance,
and my bitterness too.
And as I finish,
I see her turn to someone new,
smiling —
“Have a good one!
See you soon.”
Inside the World of Curio Athena 
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