The Physics of Laughter

The Physics of Laughter


Water, when movement is blocked,
floods or becomes diverted.
Dormant lakes evaporate
and rain on other lands.
Energy, when turned off, remains
buzzing just beneath the surface.

And laughter, when restrained
for any length of time
seeps from places damaged
by careless or intentional scars
so that each joyful event thereafter
brings a little less laughter to the surface. 

But if it doesn’t disappear,
what does it become?
Hate, anger, indifference?
If they’re lucky,
there are no cracks
and the body releases

with childlike abandon
until it lays across the floor
emitting an infectious giggle
that renders it breathless
and the sound of that laughter
can be heard in the heavens.

If we really love our children,
lets not allow them
to sit too long on their laughter,
just in case we missed a crack
when we tended to them
with the mortar of love.

And just in case you are out of practice,
remember, there are other things in the body
that explode if forced into submission.
Then allow yourself the luxury
to act like an absolute fool,
doubling over with delight.

Laughter is energy,
neither lost nor gained,
and like water and children,
rather difficult to restrict.
To do so would be far too costly
for this world to bear.