Don’t wish me happiness - I don’t expect to be happy it’s gotten beyond that, somehow. Wish me courage and strength and a sense of humor - I will need them all.

The speaker rejects the conventional, sentimental wish for “happiness” as an inadequate or unrealistic goal in the face of hard circumstances. Instead, she asks for qualities that make endurance and clear-sighted living possible: courage to face what cannot be changed, strength to persist through strain or grief, and humor to keep perspective and avoid despair. The line implies a mature, unsparing view of life in which well-being is not guaranteed, but character and resilience can be cultivated. It also reframes what it means to “wish someone well”: not to promise comfort, but to hope they meet difficulty with inner resources and a sustaining lightness of spirit.