Mirth Imagined

By John Herlihy

It only began as a faint rumble,

Deep within the well of the mind.

All thoughts seemingly began to crumble,

Into impressions of a far different kind.

My thoughts no longer staid and stately,

Neatly assembled, like soldiers, in a row.

My composure has broken down lately,

Sadness and loneliness tied up in a bow.

Who can account for our moods and temper?

As the seconds pass, the mind seizes a whim.

I go about my business but can hardly remember;

The last time I felt the urge for an honest grin.

Before I knew it, I felt a snicker, then a chuckle.

Can we laugh or cry without giving an account?

I took a deep breath and fastened my buckle;

Joyous laughter emerged in a copious amount.

At first, I really didn’t know what had occurred;

I just stood there in a funk like any other night.

When this alien spirit deep within me stirred,

Streaming through my body like inner light.

Truth to tell, I was in a room with assorted others,

When my laughter took on the air of contagion.

There with all kinds of people, even my brothers,

Everyone began to laugh with a force legion.

Then the room really began to froth and bubble;

The laughter was feeding itself fistfuls of mirth.

People began to bend over and fall into the rubble;

Others seized their stomachs to hold up their girth.

The raucous laughter spread like a conflagration;

A raging fire could not have kept up with such heft.

People laughed as if it were a totally new sensation,

Their eyes searching wildly as they caught their breath.

I began to think my laughter such that I couldn’t stop;

The people around me had the same look in their eyes.

Gasping for air helplessly, I feared I might simply drop;

People held on to each other feeling complete surprise.

But all things must pass and this riot of laughter did too;

The wild ecstatic feeling lapsed back into the depths.

If this be a sign of happiness, it arrived out of the blue.

As I settled back down, breathing with measured breaths;

Soon enough, the moment of helpless mirth began to pass;

People settled back down already forgetting what happened.

Their minds once again flooded with their miseries to amass;

Lost again in a turmoil of thought, the mirth now only imagined.