Smile
Another one from the heart …
(This hasn’t appeared on the old UKA)
Smile
Smile girl!
Don’t pull a hurt face;
display that agreement which
the willfully ignorant need.
Smile girl!
The grinding teeth won’t be heard
and silent acquiescence is
all that the disinterested want.
Smile girl!
Who needs your opinion?
Your views are unimportant,
your life erased by unconcern.
Smile girl!
This world is for conformers,
those who do not disturb
the smiling consensus.
Smile girl!
Your tears will be ignored anyway;
the pain you carry is irrelevant,
all that’s needed is that fixed
smile.
© Elfstone 4/3/16
© Elfstone 2023
I agree, just smile. Smiling is contagious, you might just make someone else smile too. Nice write.
Thanks Jay! (Smiling 🙂 )
I think I know what you mean Elf. A bit deep–but obviously from the heart. A smie is the greatest gift of nature.IMHO 😉
Gerry…
Yes it is deep, and angry, and cutting (I hope) and a real shout-out; from the heart as I said. My thanks Gerry, Elf.
An incredible portrayal of the chasm between the needs and the dispensed advice of the unaware, uncaring?
Many of us carry the hurts of not being understood, not being affirmed as who we really are.
The child in us all, wants to be loved, so we can be very hurt and wounded by so many things people say or don’t say.
One of the things I have found as I got older was realising the inability of some people to be warm becuase they never knew it themselves. ;-(
Alison x
Uncaring? yes very; too self-obsessed to care. Thanks for leaving this perceptive comment Storm.
Elf
The realisation that smiles need to start in the eyes takes a while to understand. Without the eyes, smiles are just lies dressed up.
Good writing.
Mike
“Without the eyes, smiles are just lies dressed up.” aren’t they just! I sometimes wonder why the people around me didn’t see that then. Thanks for stopping by Mike. Elf
Elf, the repeated spat-out phrase ‘smile girl’ powerfully evokes a stinging rebuke on a personal level as if your speaker is addressing, perhaps, a parent or authority figures of her child and girlhood, but, for me, it cuts two ways; it’s the hurt and personal complaint extended to the cultural and ‘normalized’ expectations of what it means to be born a ‘girl’ in this world. And for millions across this globe the consequences of refusal to smile and accept ‘your place’ – of getting it ‘wrong’ – can be horrendous. Can even be death. What your poem brought up for… Read more »
My grateful thanks for taking the time to write such a full and pertinent comment. It sounds as though your sister and I have things in common. I feel a great sense of release since my mother died, but also and enormous well-spring of anger which is coming out in my poetry. My sympathy too, to both you and your sister; I hope she finds peace of mind. Elfstone
Excellent dichotomy – the neuroses of being two faces: one for the world, masking disdain and disapproval, sadness and pain, discontent and sorrow with a frown or non-committal expression. Flip side: to smile makes one happier – puts others at ease — false testimonial to be more content with objective and subjective realness (unless depression is clinical) yet you strike a nice balance; a gentle admonition that acknowledges the right to feel as you wish and be seen as you wish. A strong write – enjoyed the nuances of give and give and try to take – 😀
Goodness! I thought this one had been long forgotten!!
I’m very grateful to you for leaving a comment and such a perceptive one. This was a poem born out of hurt and anger and I wasn’t sure how it would be received. I’m so glad you find something worthwhile in this. Elfstone