sometimes
when I hear a joke
or read it somewhere
in the vast expanse of
words and sayings and stories,
I see you hiding
in the punchline.
You nod your head,
you force a louder chuckle
than you need to -
I know how hard it is
for you to laugh with me,
but I also know
that this punchline
was the glue
that kept us stuck.
Now,
even with you on the other side
of everything,
I can hear your laugh
in a bad joke
we would've loved.