Smile to remember

a smile to remember

we had goldfish and they circled around and around

in the bowl on the table near the heavy drape

scovering the picture window and

my mother, always smiling, wanting us all

to be happy, told me,

"be happy Henry!"

and she was right:

it's better to be happy if you can

but my father continued to beat her and me

several times a week

while raging inside his 6-foot-two frame

because he couldn'tunderstand what was

attacking him from within.

my mother, poor fish,wanting to be happy,

beaten two or three times a

week, telling me to be happy:

"Henry, smile!why don't you ever smile?"
and then she would smile, to show me how,

and it was the

saddest smile I ever saw

one day the goldfish died, all five of them,

they floated on the water,

on their sides, their eyes still open,

and when my father got home he

threw them to the cat

there on the kitchen floor and

we watched as my mother

smiled