The boy I met on the river bank
Told me a truth
Unasked, unruth -

How do you smile
without a fake?
As if,
To cast a fire
And burn on a lake.

There are certain smiles that bend the broken crooked,

certain shades of green light that wilt flowers in the field.

It is an ‘as if autumn walked in with a jug of herbicide

and started perfuming life with death.’

Yes, certain smiles that stand on stilts to prop them up.

Smiles leaving someone so bent that they see nothing

save for dirt staring back at them.  

There are certain smiles that bend the broken crooked.

Smiling for the screen,
a mask I wear.
Inside,
I hide a truth laid bare.
Lost in the tide
of countless eyes,
A crowded world
Blind to my cries.
The real me,
hidden from the frame,
A soul unseen,
though I look the same.

I barged in and faked a smile
I could have bet on a little dime
That I was promised, I was cherished
But all I ended up being was
Perished.

You let me down and dug the ground
Built a grave and made no sound
Smirked at me like a filthy hound
Can you blame me now
For wanting him to drown?

And so I did the same
Dug the ground underneath his
Pool of shame.
The water so comforting
Against him seems to be plotting.

Look at me and don't lie
I wanted you to die
And you did the same and I bet
That you're still caught in the same net.