LAUGH AND BE MERRY
‘Laugh and be Merry’ is the title of an inspirational
poem written by the English poet and writer John Edward Masefield . He was born
in Ledbury, United Kingdom, on 1st June 1878 and died at Abingdon,
United Kingdom, on 12th May 1967.
During the above-mentioned period , he was Poet Laureate from
1930 until his death in 1967.
Masefield was a very popular poet. According to a literary
historian, in his long life of active writing, he produced novels, boys’
adventure stories, plays, essays biographies, and accounts of his own war
experiences at Gallipoli. However, his
poetry was the most important basis of his popularity and greatness.
Some of his best known poems are: Salt-Water Ballads, Dauber,
The Ever-lasting Mercy, Sea Fever and Cargoes.
“Laugh and be Merry” which is reproduced below shows Masefield’s bold, positive and cheerful
attitude towards life. It urges the readers to be optimistic in the face of
adversity, and find “solace and camaraderie” in shared experiences and the
beauty of the world, especially with reference to the first World War of
1914-18.
Full text of the
poem
Laugh and be merry, remember, better
the world with a song,
Better the world with a blow in the teeth of a
wrong.
Laugh, for the time is brief, a thread the length
of a span.
Laugh and be proud to belong to the old proud
pageant of man.
Laugh and be merry: remember, in olden time.
God made Heaven and Earth for joy He took in a
rhyme,
Made them, and filled them full with the strong
red wine of His mirth
The splendid joy of the stars: the joy of the
earth.
So we must laugh and drink from the deep blue cup
of the sky,
Join the jubilant song of the great stars sweeping
by,
Laugh, and battle, and work, and drink of the wine
outpoured
In the dear green earth, the sign of the joy of
the Lord.
Laugh and be merry together, like brothers akin,
Guesting awhile in the rooms of a beautiful inn,
Glad till the dancing stops, and the lilt of the
music ends.
Laugh till the game is played; and be you merry,
my friends.
*******
G.R.Kanwal
14 April 2024
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