What an Awful Pleasure

I fear my laughter.
I’ve got no guts to laugh my head off,
so I head off to someplace else.
And only my thick lips
are smiling thinly.
A most serious of citizens
choked yesterday
on an unchewed smile and died.
I fear my laughter.
Laughter is health only if
the spirit is healthy…
But those
suffering from laughter walk about grinning.
I fear my fear.
I do not shake with laughter.
I shiver.