What My Smile Hides
See the blood in my hands
Think the wounds that he has
I try this path to avoid
Guess all that hate n anger filled the void
For look a volcano my temper explode
I'm behind bars of pain and regret
Yet my heart and soul fight to forget
For all this is happening in my head
Father I didn't harm a person's life
For you told me not to fight
And letting them go I'll strive
Now look I can't bring my hands to strike
Lord would you forgive
A heart and soul filled with bees
Ready to sting and kill
Yet my mind with that, can't deal
Father Your love is what I learnt to feel
While forging my sword for my enemies
I repent for the sins that will be committed
I hope You understand
They will face my justice and will be judged
By Little One
the remote to our TV disappeared last night
my husband and I checked both sides of our chairs
the table, a shelf, the floor, a shoe, the garbage can
My husband asked “do you think Beau has it?”
“Not a chance,” I told him “we would hear him chewing it”.
We turned on the lights and tore the living room apart.
Moved the couch and both recliners.
Put our hands down the recliners three or four more times.
“Your mom’s birthday is tomorrow,” I said “do you think it is her saying hello?”
His mother has been gone twenty years, but this felt like spirit playing tricks.
We already lost one remote to this machine and it was never found.
I will not be surprised if it is sitting here next to our chairs tomorrow.
I was wrong.
It was sitting on the chair in the morning.
I was beaten in school
for speaking Themne
my own tongue
a melody they called a wrong note.
I ran to my father for comfort
but he looked away
called me foolish
for not knowing the world had changed.
I knelt beneath the old tree
offering thanks for rain and harvest
they said I was lost
praying to shadows and myths.
I wore my lion skin with pride
feet firm in Crocs-hide sandals
they mocked my walk
said I was wild, uncivilized.
But what truly is civilization?
Is it silencing my mother’s voice?
Replacing gods with shame?
Or disguising erasure as progress?
Written: June 21, 2025, for contest sponsored by: Mark Toney
Checked by HMS.COM / 10-6-7-7
***********
There is a place where my feet—often stray
Not sought, but swept retreat.
Beyond the known—cold, complete—
Truth hides in peace, soft and fleet!
We laugh loud so no one hears the sobs in our silence.
We dance like freedom lives in us,
When sometimes we feel like prisoners of our own mind.
We post smiles, quotes, and fire emojis,
While hiding battles we’re too tired to explain.
We show the highlight reel—
But the bloopers hurt more than the world knows.
I’ve seen bright eyes dim behind the scenes,
Hearts that scream while saying “I’m okay.”
And I’ve been one of them.
Happiness hides in the shadows of pain,
In the jokes told just to keep from crying,
In the "I’m good" sent at 3am with tired thumbs
And trembling hearts.
So if you see someone glowing,
Don’t assume they’re fine.
Sometimes the brightest souls
Burn the fastest just to shine.
Be kind. Be present. Be real.
Because what happiness hides
Is often the very thing
That needs healing the most.
In the nights when sleep hides among shadows and broken dreams,
The night wind becomes a caress of cold stars on my skin,
It penetrates deep into my lungs, like a crystal serpent of silence,
And I wonder, with longing that sings silence in echoes of lost time,
When was the last time I felt the thrill of undefined beauty,
That melts like a dream in the morning light, a whisper at dawn?
On those days, I close the window, the temple of cold freezes my bones,
Wraps my soul in a mantle of shivers, a sanctuary of ice.
And I wonder, with pain like a silent cry in the night’s stillness,
How long will this sensation last, nesting in the marrow of dreams,
A solitary bird in a nest of shadows, a mysterious burden,
It’s a melancholy flowing through the veins of time, a river of silver.
It winds through the cliffs of my soul, carried by waves,
A traveler on a sea of stars and shadows, in search of solace,
That spreads with the dawn, when light embraces the world,
And silence pours over us, like a forgotten song.
She whispered to me, "I hope you suffer well."
God heard her words, and he smiled,
for if suffering is what she wanted for me,
her hopes would soon be smothered in hell.
To give my best to those I loved,
It meant walking away to save a life,
when an evil person who wore a mask,
threatened to me to take their lives.
This very thing it happened to me,
no one knew or could they see,
their lives would be threatened If I told,
about the evil things that I saw unfold.
I made a choice and told it all,
a mask wearer amongst them still walks,
I'm happy to say I will never regret,
In an eight by ten room is where it rots.
The day will soon come when I've gone,
the mask wearers mask will slip with smiles,
but it'll be too late for I will tell,
though I'll never hope for all to "suffer well."
Evilness can hide inside those we know,
they hide it well with lies they tell,
they claim their the victim by tears they show,
whilst scheming with a devil who sleeps in a cell.
Come with me to the place ~
where the sun hides its face;
to pour its golden light,
on trees and vines in sight.
Even silence speaks there ~
on the peaks, in thin air;
where skies turn brightest gold
and trees, both young and old.
No animals appear;
perhaps they feel the fear.
Birds too are out of sight;
perhaps lost in their flight.
Yet beauty holds its charm,
within this gentle calm.
A scene pleasing the eye;
where trees reach for the sky.
Is this where angels dwell?
In places hard to tell.
The plants still brightly glow,
even with waters low.
A lot of things we don't know are hidden in plain sight right under our noses
Anger hides
Behind a gentle gesture
Shouting
How
did you let
this happen
You are there
I know it
See it
In flashes of sadness
In your eyes
In snarls of frustration
On your face
I know
You are present
Lost
In a synaptic maze
And so I search
Angrily
For a way
To find you
To free you
To love the you
That you are
Between nothingness and poetry, man hides,
On the tightrope of life, he weaves his lofty path,
Nothingness and poetry, they meet in the depths of the human soul,
In a dance of destiny, unfolding in the world.
Poetry is light in the face of the abyss,
A guiding star on the unknown road,
In the haze of oblivion, on the floating ship,
Man seeks the unheard truth in verses.
The void attracts him with sweet and enchanting arms,
Defying the charm that supports his dream,
But poetry, triumphant, sets him free,
From darkness to light, with unseen wings.
In the arms of poetry, the soul becomes divine,
Carried on waves of words and thoughts,
Man conquers nothingness and revives his spirit,
Singing eternal verses on the strings of the harp.
For between nothingness and poetry, man is divine,
With his soul fighting in a mystical symphony,
Transcending the boundaries of time and space,
Soaring towards infinity on the wings of love.
A winter love toying outside
melts all the pride in my heart
And it makes me feel warm inside
When that illusive existence start
The cold tries hard to hide feelings,
Dampened down fear of being rejected
Vulnerability expressing emotions
With those desires not reciprocated
Fuel the uncertainty in a dilemma,
Nervous process of sorting out feeling
With chilling fears of frozen agenda
Hesitancy takes time to bring healing
While Winter love hides in a cloke of truth
And prefer to stay cold and keep mute,
An Autumn rain teases the roses
Splashes within cupped petals
Challenges the lone bumble bee
To pollinate the late bloomers
Chipmunks grapple with wet acorns
Leaf armadas ride the rapids
A lone goose questions its choice
Children know what the puddle’s for
October hides behind next Sunday
Readying its cornstalk mazes
Spicing up its pumpkin-ness
Adding its scents to Fall’s colors
Randolph floating about twelve shops,
From the one to the other hops:
Hunter wishing to remain tops
In a brisk business for food crops…
Then, one day, off a guy’s arm chops:
His salesman’s after profit drops;
The blood-smeared walls and floor wife mops
At the speed of light against cops:
The place now worse than ones for shops…
A doting wife crime hides, not stops:
Never towards Justice Gallops.
Prayer that a move by foes flops…
with challenges and never hide
Our struggles may seem endless
but our determination is tireless
we refuse to be helpless
we'll keep pushing, limitless
our hope, unbreakable and priceless
We'll keep marching ahead
with courage, tenacity, and stead
no matter how difficult the thread
we'll move forward, not lose our head
for a better tomorrow we shed
So till then we won't rest
we'll keep putting ourselves to the test
grind, hustle and be our best
till we reach our utmost quest
together, we'll stand and overcome the rest.
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