SMILE

I looked at her sideways

and caught her smile

like a fisherman catching

an unexpected silver trout.

an unusual smile,

not the ordinary dutiful kind

not the meat-and-potatoes kind

for people and family,

but a glowing radiance

defrosted from the past.

a pure mini-explosion of joy

which transformed the

oh so disciplined geography

of her face

and erased the arroyos of age

to reveal

the happy child

at play.