The Universal Response Poem by Glen Martin Fitch

The tickle
of each sensuous delight,
the public joke,
the private jest all seem
like drunkenness and
yield bold laughter,
bright enough
to bring one's straining eyes
to stream.
To mask the torture
of one's gnawing fears,
embarrassment, or chronic misery,
to hide absurd grotesqueness
one finds tears
that yield a laughter
like insanity.
But when our human frailty is shown
or when surprise's riddle
has been solved
we come to learn the truth
we hadn't known
and laughter makes us
with the truth resolved.
The first response!
And on its own behalf
A laugh's the fittest answer
to a laugh!