O) Smile


from the ABC set After the Storm (pre-2004)

Smile

You smile at me
And take me back to
Then
When trials of now were distant specks
And unthought-of

Time
It's not easy to manipulate
It's hard to grasp
It slips away
To nothingness
No substance
Only threads
Which can't be followed back
However carefully you tread

Softly, softly
I steal a memory
That same smile
On younger lips
Back when we were innocent

Fragile moments
My mind paints pictures
Scenes in my head
That will break with the stillness
When someone speaks
Nearby
Or a door slams
Across the street

But all of this is
Mine
Locked down deep inside
For quietness to find
In introspective moments

Smile
Rose tints the past while
The present stays bleak
We'll get through this

One day
This will be a fond memory
And we will smile
At how big it seemed

You see
Now
Time is all we've got
And all we need

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