Have you ever closely listened to the laughter of your friends?

Can you hear it sometimes at night laying in bed?

Can you distinguish it from a distance?

Can you hear it calling you to come down?

Like the ringing of a doorbell, is anyone in?

I have.

I hear the laughter of my lover.

I hear the laughter of my boon companions.

I hear the laughter of my friends' passed.

I hear a sweet voice dripping from pink lips fresh from an apple bite.

The juice hanging from your tooth.

The bitter hydration

The sun beaming on your pale cheeks

It's youthful, but aged and wise.

The different guttural roars of a joke, of a tease.

a chuckle
a giggle
a chortle
a titter
a guffaw
a cackle
a like nothing else, on the floor, rolling around with belly pains and cheek burns.

It hurts so good.

I think about the different laughing sounds I've heard in my life.

This unique occurrence

for some: constant, consistent, anticipated, expected
for others: rare, timid, a precious poke that makes a room glee

Neither meaning more nor less.

It's an embodiment of human joy.

We're the only creatures on earth

built with this uniting force

to laugh.

Won't laughter bring us together again?