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