A SMILE IS HER UMBRELLA
A widow of a fallen soldier
wears his dog tag around her neck.
She climbs on top of a double-decker bus—
her smile beams in all kinds of weather:
lightning and thunder scares the bejeebers
out of most of us, but she keeps smiling
even if the wind blows her right off her feet.
Her smile is sunshine for every garden,
and a source of luscious water from her well
of kindheartedness.
It keeps roosters crowing all day long.
Alligator-clogged rivers become navigable,
and the sweet taste of chocolate lingers
In everyone’s mouth day and night.
She belly-dances at a Casbah
to drums and castanets until dawn.
The plaintive sound of an Oud
lulls us all into to a peaceful sleep.
Her smile annihilates any hint of dread.
With the light of a firefly,
she illuminates the darkness,
perfuming the earth with the scent of love.