12809596_1413579175413678_4036998646343994268_nGood bye. Two words. Easily said
impossible to mend a ravaged soul
take a photo of grief she may hide in plain sight
a snapshot in time does not a story tell
one great smile and everything is assumed well
even we, reminiscing glaze over story’s end
maybe it’s for the best …
making memories to endear rather than ravage
such the way of humanity and its glitter ball
yet
beneath the smile, as bright as ever was
more luminous and beautiful perhaps
for undercurrent of savage sorrow
you were crawling out of your mind
it seems an offense to forget
under widest grins we suffer in silence
touched by the same unspeakable sin
of feeling too much in a world favoring compartments
for on the appointed day the photographer says
cheese! and on auto pilot I grin with every ounce of fake
afterward he exclaims, you can see the joy in your heart
it radiates
and sure enough
look closely you cannot tell
I am falling apart
I am coming undone
beneath the layers of my glimmering
it is spoken, smile! and you will feel better!
would that were true
a smile when you are sorrowful
one that cannot be seen through
often the ruin behind the glue
for all the world is a stage
people believe what is easy to convey
they never stop to look beneath
it is not what they wish to keep
in their collective memory
let’s be cheerful! Dismiss regret!
the sorrow we feel
welling under surface
must stay as secret lake
never admit
when you are the only person in a room
crying inside whilst outside you bloom
hello it’s good to meet you
hi there, it’s nice to see you
everyone says wow don’t you look great!
not aware when you get home you will
pluck out your eyes
made of stone
pull off the mask
kick off the shoes
tear down the dress
all the artifice
with no-one to hear your cry
for sorrow is never shared
it is a lonely lonely journey
suffered behind waves of denial
and you wish so much
someone would call you up and say
you were smiling in your photo today
but I saw a sadness beneath
can I come round and help you?
can I hold you when you cannot
breathe?