A teenager from the United States has lifted the spirits of people all around the world with an inspirational poem that has gone viral.

The poem, which Ms Chanie Gorkin posted on poetry site poetrynation.com, is about happiness, and when read from top to bottom, offers a negative perspective. When read from bottom upwards, however, the meaning of the poem transforms into a positive one.

Ms Gorkin describes herself on the site as an 11th grader from Brooklyn, New York, and someone who enjoys writing and music. Her mother shared the poem on her Facebook page.

The poem is believed to have gone viral after a photo of it posted on the wall of a London bar was shared widely. News site The Huffington Post reported that events promoter Zachery Stephenson printed the poem and stuck it on the wall. He had encountered the poem when someone had shared it with him to cheer him up.

"I thought it was profoundly uplifting," he told The Huffington Post. Another netizen by the name of Ronnie Joice, a social media marketing manager from London, then took a photo of the poem, and tweeted it. His photo was then retweeted, and it went viral. The poem has received more than a million likes on Facebook.

While Ms Gorkin herself is away, working as a summer camp counsellor in an area with little Internet connection, her father told The Huffington Post: "It seems to me that she is very gratified to have helped make so many people's day a little better."