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The Laughing, Laughing
J. Scott Smith
Look, if you will, to the ballrooms
To the costumed, partying people.
Listen, if you will, and note the laughter
Come from the happy, the laughing, laughing.
Come, if you will, come 'round the corner -
To hunger and hurting you'll go -
Where people are asking for food and shelter
From the happy, the laughing, laughing.
Again, if you can, come to the waiting places.
People here are sickly, old and poor;
They are scorned and rejected, outcast,
By the happy, the laughing, laughing.
Once more, if you dare, to the greenlands fair;
Many lie still here inside the earth
Who came here sadly being watched gladly
By the happy, the laughing, laughing.
Return, if you wish, to the ballrooms
And the costumed, partying people -
Join in their singing and dancing, eating and drinking;
Live happily laughing, dying in laughter.
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