-- Laughter with No True Heart --

By John Herlihy

Soft laughter embraces the crowd with tender fingers,

Stirring in people a joyous mood that ripples and lingers.

Its warmth a comforting blanket that covers our mood,

Laughter with healing quality that will our hearts soothe.

Consider infectious laughter of the baby with open arms,

One look, one moment to listen brings immediate balms.

Contagious laughter of young people rippling in a crowd,

Their voices throaty and spontaneous when heard aloud.

This kind of laughter, when it dies, never does disappear;

The good will that comes with it always seems to be near.

Loud laughter could be heard, but it was not funny,

Laughter as hard and brittle as the day was sunny.

Breaking up into pieces, and each piece like a jeer,

Traced into lines of the mouth as an echoing sneer.

Raw laugher with no heart, only chips to break away,

Cruel laughter with an unexpected intent to convey.

Its echo makes its way into the canals of eager ears,

Where it dies sudden death with no recourse to tears.

With a few desperate gasps, finally reduced to a crawl,

This kind of false laughter was really no laughter at all.

Fitful laughter could be heard but it was not warm,

But little staccato hiccups out of nervousness born.

A minor stampede with notes of anxiety at its edge;

Laughter that knew it was wrong, it had no pledge.

Such laughter emerges from a giddiness insecure,

With echoes that feel false and an aura most impure.

This laughter also dies a natural death to fade away,

To have its brief moment in time with nothing to say.

The laughter seems to trip and fall down the stairs,

Embarrassed to have even existed with its false flairs.

Finally then, the sound of laughter with no true heart,

A laughter so cruel that its heart has broken apart.

This laughter is accompanied with an expansive grin;

Such laughter will soon expose itself as an ugly sin.

With no humor in its harsh echo, it assaults its victim,

Who feels the intended taunt to end up feeling grim.

Not to be laughed with, only to be laughed at instead;

The laughter falls into the heart with its feelings of dread.

To be the object of a reverse joke who laughter is mirthless,

A laughter with no true heart because its core is worthless.

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(c) John Herlihy 4 October 2018