Laughter to Me

Do you want to know what’s really hard?

Try explaining what’s so funny as you’re laughing

It’s like no matter how many times you say it

The confused look on their face remains

Even after you’ve already repeated yourself

Or at least tried to

For you, crying is at the end of a really romantic movie or at the end of The Lion King

For me, crying is the second stage of laughter

After your stomach starts to tighten

After your legs can no longer support the weight of your body

After collapsing to the floor is your only option

I’m either laughing, just finished laughing or about to laugh

I used to always sit and ask myself

“Why do I laugh so much?”

This time I finally found the answer

I laugh because it fills the awkward tension in the room

The tension you can see

The kind you can cut with a butter knife

I laugh because just for a minute I can deflect thoughts of the future

I laugh because I can