Where Has Laughter Gone? Poem by ROOP REKHA BHASKAR

Babies gurgling to sounds and hues;
Like pure white lilies rippling in a stream.
All around, they smile and respond,
Unknown language, just a bond.
Do babies burble, for a reason?
Perhaps they see Angles, playing in heaven!

Tiny tots bundle around;
Squeals break into peals, like bells.
Prancing, bouncing in a tangled ring,
Like pearls strewn, with no attached strings.
Beautiful and vibrant like the rainbow.
No bar for caste, creed or color.
Uniting like fluffy white and blue cotton clouds,
And don’t need a purpose to laugh out loud.

Uncontrollable teenage bursts, springs in frequency.
Contagious giggles; sprayed within split seconds;
Like half blossomed Roses, in a bouquet of ferns.
Delightful, Hilarious, flirtatious and teasing;
Like musical notes gone wild and noisy,
Tears rolling – It is just teenage crazy!

Adult laugh like a smile that broke;
Guffaws on Bean movies and US funny videos;
Too weary, too whacked but an occasional chuckle,
And seem like a rain cloud waiting to burst.
The aged cackles, at days bygone
When laughter rang like music across;
In all homes, all ages and at all times.
Like orchards abloom, pausing for shower.


How strange that laughter is now a remedy;
To wipe away all illness and tragedy.
The doctors say, the best medicine is laugher- Loud;
So you stand in circles and laugh your head out! !