Sheila Charles SMILING FACE
This happened when I had just entertained
The day before yesterday.
It was a group of elderly citizens.
Most had short hair, mainly grey.
There were a lot of smiling faces. It seemed to go really well eh?
So my friend and I went to a cafe. As she’d driven, I offered to pay.
I ordered and sat at a table. She had coffee, I had tea.
As an elderly grey-haired lady came in, sat down and kept looking at me!
I leaned over and whispered to Irene,
“That lady behind you keeps smiling. Yes.
She must have heard me reciting just now.”
I didn’t know. It was purely a guess.
Then the said lady came over.
She looked me straight in the eye
And gave me the widest ever smile.
I was flattered. I can’t tell a lie!
One should NEVER assume. Well, I did!
I asked, “Did you just hear me recite?”
She looked momentarily puzzled – so obviously NOT.
She then shook her head, left then right!
Then Irene said, “It’s a nice day.”
The kady just nodded, THEN,
She smiled, I smiled. Irene smiled.
We all smiled all over again.
The lady then returned to her seat
After Irene said, “Have a good day.”
I’ve no explanation for any of this,
I just thought I should say.
Then I leaned over and whispered to Irene,
“There’s a poem in this somewhere.”
Irene said she didn’t think there was.
(If there wasn’t, that would be rare!)
So this is the poem. I phoned and read it to Irene.
I said, “You thought I couldn’t. I did. SO THERE!
illustration by ume-nori
