Her mother taught her happiness

How to smile in the mirror to a reflection she does not recognize.

Happily nodding her head to the command of every bruise she left on her own heart,

She learnt how to wear happiness as different coloured attires to every meal,

Learning that any crease lines in her face could be mistaken for something else.

So her mother taught how to smile,

For those days that she felt most depressed

Those days that beat her down with iron rods and bruised her being.

She learnt how to act content,

Trying new faces in the mirror as though she was auditioning for a role.

To know that feelings did not have to be learnt

But felt

To awake a spirit within you

So she stopped learning how to be happy

And allowed her to be sad