It's so easy to listen to music: all we need are our ears and an iPod. And there's nothing better in the world than plugging in some earphones, or cranking up the volume on our stereo, and blasting our favorite song. If we're crying over our ex who's just dumped us, we feel better. If we're already happy, then a little bit of music will only make us happier.

Billy Collins' "Man Listening to Disc" is a poem about the simple pleasures of music. It's one of those joys we take for granted. The poem first appeared in 1999 in Atlantic Monthly and then later wound up in his 2002 book Sailing Alone Around the Room. It's called "Man Listening to Disc" because it was published in the pre-iPod stone age, when people were still listening to compact discs, or CDs. Remember those big, clunky, round things? (We know—it's hard to believe, but it's true.)

But Collins' poem isn't just about any music. It's about jazz music. Jazz, of course, is the great American musical form: it developed in America before it was exported out to the rest of the world. So the poem is an homage to jazz specifically, and some of the jazz musicians who made the form what it is.

Sometimes it's good to focus on the simple pleasures. Sure, it would be nice to be a millionaire and to have a big house and a fancy car. And sure, maybe we'd be happier if we were a little skinnier or a little taller, a littler prettier or a little more buff.

But Billy Collins' "Man Listening to Disc" shows us that happiness isn't about money or looks or popularity—or any of those things, really. It reminds us that we should stop pining after the things we can't have and turn instead to the simple pleasures that we can have, like music. The secret to happiness, in other words, is to seek out the simple pleasures. And don't we all need to be reminded of that from time to time?