Smile

I keep having this nightmare about
a person smiling through blood,
somewhere without light, in a room.

and they're trying despite it all to project a love,
that in turn isn't understood
by that which just annihilates them,

hitting them over and over again
as if trying to teach them how to act
but nonetheless, they won't stop smiling.

a stupid innocent child
dressed up like a grown adult.
cowering in the corner.

smiling, smiling stupidly...
until they're hit again, again.
until, of course, they die,

and so can't smile anymore.