You laughed once

You laughed once

But for the rest of your life were quite done with laughing.



Not even

The roars around you, contagious cackles, got you there.



You stayed where

You thought it best to stay, mild, sometimes remembering.



Recalling

There was a time you laughed once, there was this gift one time.



Not as though

The world became dreary and unbearable, not that.



The world kept

Its dear quality, but laughter was gone like a fate.



Necessity,

Just looking ahead and past there, was written on you.



Your faced turned

As though scanning everything, seeing jokes but truth too.



It’s not that

Truth is something unlaughable, it’s not that at all.



You still laughed

Once and, as truth is the shining eruption of things;



As all things

Are held by truth tending to weeds like a gardener;



As truth has

All measure of forbearance and of expansiveness;



Your laughter

That one time beneath the tree with the man you adore;



The way he

Took your body as a mass in his and hugged the floor;



It was there

Still and silent as a memory, your laughing once.



Besides all

There is to see and be moved by in this colored world;



Besides all

The festivals at others’ expense, lush festivals;



Unimpressed

By the din things make when you put them all together;



Eyes ahead,

Looking past ahead, scanning all things, you still laughed once.