If We Hadn't Been Laughing<META NAME="Author" CONTENT="Juked"> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <LINK REL="stylesheet" HREF="/css/913articles.css" TYPE="text/css"> <LINK REL="shortcut icon" HREF="/favicon.ico" TYPE="image/x-icon"> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JAVASCRIPT" SRC="/js/articles.js"></SCRIPT> </HEAD><BODY LEFTMARGIN="0" TOPMARGIN="0" MARGINHEIGHT="0" RIGHTMARGIN="0" BOTTOMMARGIN="0" MARGINWIDTH="0" STYLE="border:0; text-align:center; background-color:#FFFFEE"> <TABLE WIDTH="100%" HEIGHT="100%" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" BORDER="0"> <TR> <TD WIDTH="*"> <SPACER> </TD> <TD WIDTH="830" HEIGHT="100%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left"> <TABLE WIDTH="100%" HEIGHT="100%" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" BORDER="0"> <TR>  <TD WIDTH="610" HEIGHT="100%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left" BGCOLOR="#FFFFEE"> <TABLE WIDTH="100%" HEIGHT="100%" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" BORDER="0"> <TR> <TD WIDTH="100%" HEIGHT="30" VALIGN="middle" ALIGN="left" STYLE="border-bottom:1px solid #000000"> <A HREF="/index.html" CLASS="nav">home</A> | <A HREF="/info/" CLASS="nav">info</A> | <A HREF="/moment/" CLASS="nav">moment</A> | <A HREF="/archive/" CLASS="nav">archive</A> | <A HREF="/print/" CLASS="nav">print</A> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD WIDTH="100%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left"> <TABLE WIDTH="100%" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" BORDER="0" STYLE="padding-right:30px"> <TR> <TD HEIGHT="80" COLSPAN="2"> <SPACER> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD WIDTH="*" ALIGN="left" CLASS="header"> </TD> <TD WIDTH="*" ALIGN="right" CLASS="header" > 01.2008 </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD HEIGHT="8" COLSPAN="2"> <SPACER> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD WIDTH="*" COLSPAN="2" STYLE="padding-top:7px; padding-bottom:7px" CLASS="title"> If We Hadn't Been Laughing </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD WIDTH="*" COLSPAN="2" CLASS="byline"> by <A HREF="/info/912bios/micheleh.asp" CLASS="authorlink">Michele N. Harmeling</A> </A> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD HEIGHT="20" COLSPAN="2"> <SPACER> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD WIDTH="*" COLSPAN="2" CLASS="text" STYLE="padding-bottom:30px"><DIV CLASS="textpoemholder"> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">as we stepped onto the bus, perhaps those boys wouldn't have followed.</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">If the bus had been a bright shade of blue,</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">we might not have been the last ones to board.</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">If we had walked faster, and hadn't looked back</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">on the way to the bus stop</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">those boys might not have seen us, yet</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">if not, who would have sat behind us and said,</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new"><I>See those girls in the plaid uniforms? Ugly, aren't they?</I></P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">If we had gotten off one stop sooner, with the old</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">woman hugging her butcher-paper bundle of fish and chips,</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">while the bus rattled on between gum trees;</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">if those plaid uniforms had been stained and our hair</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">unwashed; if we had been even uglier,</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">then perhaps those boys would have changed their minds.</P> <IMG SRC="/images/null.gif" HEIGHT="15"><BR> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">We weren't, and they followed us</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">down the lavender-scented street, and</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">if we hadn't turned to face them,</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">we might have ended up like that girl in the newspaper.</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">If we hadn't finally sloughed off the illusion</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">that they just wanted a quick snog, or a number to call,</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">if she hadn't been the one whose fortune we had borrowed</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">without knowing it, it might have been us</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">curled up behind a row of bins</P> <P CLASS="textpoem-new">as if we were sick and asleep.</P> </DIV> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD HEIGHT="*" STYLE="border-bottom:1px solid #000000"> <SPACER> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> </TD>  <TD WIDTH="182" HEIGHT="100%" VALIGN="top" BGCOLOR="#677358"> <TABLE WIDTH="100%" HEIGHT="100%" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" BORDER="0"> <TR>  <TD VALIGN="top" HEIGHT="420" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left"> <IMG SRC="/images/913/article-logo.jpg" BORDER="0" USEMAP="#sideimage" WIDTH="182"> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD VALIGN="bottom" ALIGN="center" WIDTH="100%" HEIGHT="*" CLASS="sidebottom" STYLE="padding-bottom:40px"> Thoughts? <A HREF="mailto:info@juked.com?subject=Feedback" CLASS="sidelink">Tell us</A>. </TD> </TR> </TABLE> </TD> <TD WIDTH="38" HEIGHT="100%" VALIGN="top" ALIGN="left" BGCOLOR="#FFFFEE"> <TABLE WIDTH="38" HEIGHT="100%" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" BORDER="0"> <TR> <TD WIDTH="38" HEIGHT="30" VALIGN="top" STYLE="border-bottom:1px solid #000000"> <SPACER> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD WIDTH="38" HEIGHT="*" STYLE="border-bottom:1px solid #000000"> <SPACER> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> </TD> <TD WIDTH="*"> <SPACER> </TD> </TR>  <TR> <TD WIDTH="*"> <SPACER> </TD> <TD WIDTH="830" HEIGHT="56"> <TABLE WIDTH="100%" HEIGHT="56" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" BORDER="0"> <TR> <TD WIDTH="610" HEIGHT="56" VALIGN="middle" ALIGN="right" STYLE="background-color:#FFFFEE; padding-bottom:4px" CLASS="bottom"> Copyright © 1999-2012 <I>Juked</I><IMG SRC="/images/null.gif" HEIGHT="1" WIDTH="50"> </TD> <TD WIDTH="182" BGCOLOR="#677358"> <SPACER> </TD> <TD WIDTH="38" STYLE="background-color:#FFFFEE; padding-bottom:4px"> <SPACER> </TD> </TR> </TABLE> </TD> <TD WIDTH="*"> <SPACER> </TD> </TR>  </TABLE> <MAP NAME="sideimage"> <AREA SHAPE="RECT" COORDS="0,0,182,83" HREF="/index.html"> </MAP> </DIV> </BODY> </HTML>