Have you noticed - that right from birth

Human kind is meant for mirth.

Before a baby knows its place

You'll see a smile upon its face,

And when a child is growing fast

A smile's the thing that's sure to last

When life is hard - not being kind

The face will show how folk can find

A refuge from the grief and care

That somehow seems we all must share.

When pressures seek to see us buckle

There's always respite in a chuckle

A rueful twisting of the lips

That accompanies some upbeat quips,

Or a crinkling seen around the eyes

That signals how the spirits rise

To challenge the woe that life can bring

And aid our spirits to take wing;.

And as the years go hurrying by

We laugh more often than we cry,

So let it be when our time ends

And anno domini duly sends

Its message that life is marked FIN -

Let's leave this world with one last grin.

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