How does it feel
To be broken inside?

Yet appearing fixed
From the outside?

I will tell you.

It looks like a smile
Until you unravel it.

Beneath the smile
Is a haunting pain.

Invisible, indescribable
Torturous heart-filled pain.

You look my way
You can never know.

You look my way
I will smile again.

So you can never know.

I laugh at how easy
It is to fool others.

With a smile.

But instead I feel
The insufferable pain.

Instead of the warmth
My smile should give me.

It just hurts instead.

Over time it hurts less
But never hurts none.

It just hurts less.

So please know that
Despite my trying hard.

To get away with a smile.

Because I will try
To fool you again.

With the same smile
Lies through my teeth.

A smile
Hiding words.

It does hurt
It still hurts.

The more you know.

Kaila A. Notto
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