Her Smile

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Her Smile

Twenty years on, 

her brown-eyed smile still finds me 

first—quiet, crooked, devastating.

It carries every shared morning, 

every survived storm, 

every mutual forgiveness. 

Time hasn’t worn it down; 

it’s sharpened it. It bites.

One look and I am forty again, 

undone, chosen, re-made–

home.

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This Quadrille (44 word poem) shared with those Smiley Faces (which was invented by Harvey Ball in Worcester, MA, home of Elizabeth Bishop, Stanley Kunitz, and Richard Fox) over at DVerse Poets Pub. But the smile I write about is all Susan.

©2026 Christopher Reilley 

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