• You say hello with a smile on your face
    Acting as if there is no wrong in the world.
    No death, no starving children, no countries at war,
    But there are.

    As I say hello back it seems like my heart
    Is a glistening mouth spread wide into a smile.
    But it is really a red-rimmed eye, crying from problems
    Unknown to even the truest of friends.

    We walk side by side, speaking of superficial problems-
    Gossip about relationships, drama and cliques.
    But I am aching to talk about the less paltry aspects,
    Long ago divorces and dark times of the past.
    But instead I continue, nodding my head
    As we discuss who just broke up with who and why.

    So now I shall stop hallucinating
    That everything will get better,
    That parents could come back,
    Brothers and sisters could be reunited,
    And we could be happy again.
    Because that could never happen.

    The world is just a cesspool
    Of sadness, separations, and death.
    But maybe, just maybe,
    I could put on a smile
    Stop simply pretending that things are fine,
    And let it truly be all right.

    There is not just starvation, wars and goodbyes.
    There is charity, peace, and greetings to friends.
    Not all those are evil, diluted with their own feelings of sorrow
    Who need to do wicked, shameful things to make themselves feel better.

    People can be kind, even injured families can learn to forgive.
    Forgive and forget as the old saying goes.
    Although the dark times will never be forgotten
    We could learn to forgive, to start over anew.
    Because when one person dies,
    One more have been born.

    Like a after deadly fire, grass will grow again.
    It may be a little shorter, not as green maybe,
    But still grass is just grass
    And that grass can’t reverse the acts of a fire that was.
    But it shall grow back, and be greener some day
    And although charred remains shall still stand,
    New things have grown and new things reformed.