Quiet Smile

No words escape or break united lips;
She hides her humor, guarding it away.
A spirit closed, she hides all but the tips
Of mind and heart, escaping from the day.

She walks past many friends who know her not.
Their darkened lives obscure when she does fail
To ask and care and learn what each has got;
To give and share and teach how she is frail.

A quiet awkward moment will begin,
If only she would dare to pass it by,
Friendship that otherwise would not have been
Had moment’s fear convinced her face to hide.

Her shyness masks her beauty for a while
But beauty is revealed within her smile.


J. Abram Barneck.
Copyright © 2004 by Rhyous, Inc.  All rights reserved.
Revised: 07 Mar 2004 01:44:11 -0700.

Leave a Reply

Related Post

But Morning Comes

Alone in darkness weakened by the night A pit I dig to trap my foolish self. Success! I’m trapped and hidden from the light, From eyes that dwell above earths solid shelf. As stone I sit immobile, empty, bleak; Not dead yet frozen by inertia’s power I should escape but will is broken, weak. I […]

Marked by Him

I strive to write the perfect words to praise The woman that I think of every hour, But with my words I cannot find the phrase To speak grand words with all of Petrarch’s power Yet beauty you possess despite weak words That spill from failing fingers to this page; I could compare you to […]

Shakespeare’s Sonnet 106

In college I read all of Shakespeare’s sonnets. The one I picked to memorize was #106. Shakespeare’s sonnet #106 When in the chronicle of wasted time, I see descriptions of the fairest wights, And beauty making beautiful old rhyme, In praise of ladies dead, and lovely knights, Then in the blazon of sweet beauty’s best, […]