The Soul of All Delight

A Child's Laughter

All the bells of heaven may ring,
All the birds of heaven may sing,
All the wells on earth may spring,
All the winds on earth may bring
All sweet sounds together---
Sweeter far than all things heard,
Hand of harper,
tone of bird,
Sound of woods at sundawn stirred,
Welling water's winsome word,
Wind in warm wan weather,

One thing yet there is,that none
Hearing ere its chime be done
Knows not well the sweetest one
Heard of man beneath the sun,
Hoped in heaven hereafter;
Soft and strong and loud and light,
Very sound of very light
Heard from morning's rosiest height,
When the soul of all delight
Fills a child's clear laughter.

Golden bells of welcome rolled
Never forth such notes,nor told
Hours so blithe in tones so bold,
As the radiant mouth of gold
Here that rings forth heaven.
If the golden-crested wren
Were a nightingale---
why, then, Something seen and heard of men
Might be half as sweet as when
Laughs a child of seven.

~ Algernon Charles Swinburne

Any parent can tell you there is no sweeter sound than the laughter of their child. Monkey is finally learning to use the full range of his voice to express his emotions. Where he used to shriek for everything (happiness, fatigue, frustration, excitement, etc.), he daily learns new ways to use his voice.

The babbling is wonderful, the singing is cute; but oh, the laughter. I will go to the ends of the earth for that sound. Dance a silly jig, sing an off-key tune, spin circles with him high above my head, make faces and bay at the moon. Until finally... There. When I wasn't expecting anything at all. The sweetest of sounds. Not just a "heh," not a "tee-hee." A laugh, long and true. Straight from the belly. I had to laugh too.