OF LAUGHTER

By Jane Merchant

 

No need to tell me, laughter is not all of life,

For I have struggled, hungered, wept alone,

with none to heed my frantic call.

 

Through bitter nights when even the white stars

slept, there only agony I lost in a black abysm of disaster.

There was no laughter then;

only the cry of a torn heart denying death its master.

 

No, laughter is not all. But I have learned that those who live entirely are those who dare exultant, freeing laughter, fairly earned,

 

Through victories over tempests of despair.

 

Who cannot laugh dare not confront the day.

Who cannot laugh can neither love nor pray.