Joy is in the ears that hear
Let its song succeed
Laughter is the bane of fear
And all the hope we need

Let all who are most serious
And fearful on this day
Take lessons from our Giant friends
Or children at their play
For ever in the midst of woe
It helps if we recall
That laughter is a medicine
More potent than them all

When all our banners dragged the dust
And all our hands were chained
In haunted caverns of the earth
Our laughter yet remained
And ever as we lost our dreams
The joy would bid them nigh
Until at last we left the dark
And laughed beneath the sky

Though ever in this darkling world
Our enemies grow strong
It helps us to remember
That their reign cannot be long
And though it seems forever
As we hold them still at bay
It helps to know that laughter
Is forever and a day