Her lips shaped to smile
As if she had been thrust
Into this world
For such a purpose,
Unable to hide
With no reason to do so
Her innate happiness
Radiating from profusion
Of spontaneous impulsive
Impetuous gratitude.
Indulging in divulging
The traits of such a feeling
Overwhelming of a certainty
Only a few would dare to grasp,
She was jolted by the cognisance
That her glow appeared offensive
Disturbing oh so many who deemed
Elation démodé, mirth a symptom
Of ignorance, gratitude stupidity
Of the obstinately kind,
Repeatedly asking her why
She would persist a smile.
Unable to convey to spirits
Locked in cells the immensity
Of her reverential awe
For a Universe granting life
And a consciousness to behold
The rarity of it all,
Listeners bellowed for the doctor
Who summoned the mental
Asylum director, who swiftly sent
His men to take her
Lock her up and question
Her behaviour, smiling anomalies
There must, be something wrong
With her the alienist inferred
Hammering out a treatment
Promptly prescribing essential drugs
To relax her facial muscles
Valium to erase, that weird beam
Off her face, lobotomise the chances
Her delusional ideas could be contagious,
She looks outside the window
Behind iron bars considers
Apes rats dogs and dolphins
Laugh all the same,
Express peace, a tickling skin
A playful atmosphere to live within,
In lack of hostility why is man
So frightened by a smile?
[Featured lithograph: Dance in a Madhouse by George Wesley Bellows (1882 – 1925) lithograph depicting patients dancing at the State Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.]