Laugh a Little Bit
“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine”; a little laughter cures many a seeming ill.
Here’s a motto, just your fit—
Laugh a little bit.
When you think you’re trouble hit,
Laugh a little bit.
Look misfortune in the face.
Brave the beldam’s rude grimace;
Ten to one ’twill yield its place,
If you have the wit and grit
Just to laugh a little bit.
Keep your face with sunshine lit,
Laugh a little bit.
All the shadows off will flit,
If you have the grit and wit
Just to laugh a little bit.
Cherish this as sacred writ—
Laugh a little bit.
Keep it with you, sample it,
Laugh a little bit.
Little ills will sure betide you,
Fortune may not sit beside you,
Men may mock and fame deride you,
But you’ll mind them not a whit
If you laugh a little bit.
Edmund Vance Cooke.
From “A Patch of Pansies.”