m y   d i a r y

THE ONE KIND OF LAUGH

There is one kind of laugh that I always did recommend;
it looks out of the eye first with a merry twinkle,
then it creeps down on its hands and knees
and plays around the mouth like a pretty moth around the blaze of a candle,
then it steals over into the dimples of the cheeks
and rides around in those whirlpools for a while,
then it lights up the whole face like the mellow bloom on a damask rose,
then it swims up on the air,
with a peal as clear and as happy as a dinner-bell,
then it goes back again on gold tiptoes like an angel out for an airing,
and it lies down on its little bed of violets in the heart where it came from.

- - - Josh Billings