Painted picture of a smile
On a coated canvas face
Portrait of perfected pleasure
An intended illustration of illusion
Hiding hurt and humiliation
At a listless, lost and lingering life
Forgotten faith in fairytales
Magic only a memory and a myth
Candid clarity of childhood
Ostracized by the opinion of others
Authentic attentiveness abnormal
Not allowed to acknowledge inadequacies
Pretending to flourish while drowning
In the business of an adult world
Debbie Gravett © 2017.06.27
via Daily Prompt: Illusion
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Powerful poem whose final image recalls this poem, hope you don’t mind me pasting it here:
Not Waving but Drowning
By Stevie Smith
Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.
Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he’s dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.
Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.
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Thank you. Wow! Thanks for sharing a great poem
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