Breathing Poetry

Written by Therese Broderick
She lives in Albany, New York, USA
Her site: Small Returns

Originally posted on Every Photo Tells A Story
for the image prompt shown here

Operation Smile

Child, because I sent my pledge
to some torn patch of the globe--
Cambodia, Morocco, Honduras--
you can now smile for the first time
at your mother's deep brown eyes,
or chew the banana she peels for you,
or learn how to say another word, tongue
meeting the new roof of your mouth.
The word for "love" or "tasty" or
"more." More hugs, more bananas.
And when you are no longer a child,
when you are healed enough to
recite your village's oldest words,
smile when you come to that story's
tragic ending. Mend whatever you can
of our clefted world. Smile often
for the sake of disconsolate poets.

Posted with consent from the writer.