laugh lines

Gran runs her fingers through my hair, smiling down at me. I'm too weak to reach up and trace her laugh lines, but I trace them with my eyes, thinking of all the years that have gone by between Lucy and me with Gran. All the memories held in those lines, smiles and laughs. I am touched by the way our generations pass, one to the other, our genes the same yet slightly altered, carrying with us all of those memories.

— M. Starks

Take bread away from me, if you wish, take air away, outdo not take from me your laughter. Do not take away the rose, the lance flower that you pluck, the water that suddenly bursts forth in joy, the sudden wave of silver born in you. My struggle is harsh, and I come back with eyes tired at times from having seethe unchanging earth, but when your laughter enter sit rises to the sky seeking mean it opens for me all the doors of life. My love, in the darkest hour your laughter opens, and if suddenly you see my blood staining the stones of the street, laugh, because your laughter will be for my handslike a fresh sword. Next to the sea in the autumn, your laughter must raise its foamy cascade, and in the spring, love, I want your laughter like the flower I was waiting for, the blue flower, the rose of my echoing country. Laugh at the night, at the day, at the moon, laugh at the twisted streets of the island, laugh at this clumsy fool who loves you, but when I openly eyes and close them, when my steps go, when my steps return, deny me bread, air, light, spring, but never your laughter.

— Pablo Neruda