Unassuming Smile

The way the poet tells the tale, a year or so ago, while walking with an old friend from high school, he picked out of the crowd the face of a woman he recognized as having been a mutual acquaintance of theirs all those many years ago. His friend was dubious, but he insisted and when they approached her, she confirmed her identity.

His friend was amazed that after all these years, he could pick her out of the crowd. The poet explained that he had carried a crush for her all those years ago and that he would notice her "unassuming smile" despite all that had passed, in time and in life, since then.

This is for Mary.

Unassuming Smile

there it was. unexpected.
detected only by the
random chance
of happenstance
as I caught something
at the edge of my awareness
like the sound of
bells
or the wind in tree limbs,
stripped of leaves
by the winter cold.

that unassuming smile.

had you seen me in that moment
you would have seen my head
snap
to one side
as though suddenly made aware of
light
in a dark abyss.

after a few skipped heartbeats,
I regained my breath.

the prototype, the archetype.
the earnest and unpretentious smile
so rare and fair and precious
to one such as I,
so used to the practiced spontaneity
of suitors and looters
and reality disputers.

I think I blinked.

how many moments
hours
days
weeks
months
years.
my God, decades
since light was cast in my sphere
by that unassuming smile
set upon a Mona Lisa monument
to the perfection of memory
in the face of a beautiful woman.


William F. DeVault. all rights reserved.