Held behind tight smiles;
Our flood gates locked
Against raging torrents.
We smile, even laugh
But wrinkled cracks around our eyes
Show the levee is straining,
Cracks holding back
Our sea of anguish and pain.
Deep, deep sea of tears,
Dark depths of memories;
Our smiles must keep your tempest at bay;
Your surging breakers
Threatening to drown us
In your dark, crushing depths of despair.
Tears, come slowly,
Nurture my garden of memories;
If I cry a little,
Don’t break the dyke
And flood me to my core.
Read more poems by Sharon Heaney Stansfield
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