An Honest Smile

​A couple is dancing
under the notes of street musicians.
 
Happiness.
 
I smile not to happiness
 
but I smile because of happiness,
seven or ten steps away.
 
And it is an honest smile
of dehydrated lips sipping water
of a tortured dog reaching an empty alley
of an insane man finally falling asleep.
 
I stand
seven or ten steps away.
The pen is scratching.
I do my job.
 
I do not allow my smile to be seen by them.
A poet’s call, after all,
is to record perfection
 
not destroy it.



___
© Alex Antonopoulos

This poem has been included in the MASTER'S IN CREATIVE WRITING ANTHOLOGY 2018 (published by the University of Cambridge Institute of Continuing Education).

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Image (right) from: https://awazo.com/photo/2009/090302shadow.jpg