When Happiness Kills You

This is about someone watching a loved one being suffocated by their own self-loathing, and drown in their own lies.

Smiles cover everything,

Plaster the walls, suffocate the furniture.

But infectious, they are not.

Behind them is nothing,

but nightmares and bitter cold.

The smiles are just to cover,

something darker.

Plastered like cheap wallpaper,

stitched together like bad upholstery.

You, even you, are clothed in them,

dirty little smiles,

of your own creation.

Suffocating, so slowly, dying.

Choking you, those smiles are,

Malicious little things,

but you were already drowning,

drowning in this pool of lies,

that you filled for yourself,

to bathe in your own self-loathing.

Good night, now,

and don't forget

keep smiling.

 

6-4-08

Author's Note

I wasn't entirely sure what to do about the grammar.
So please ignore those errors. Thank you!

Reviews

[Prudence Desideria]

Very interesting construction, and the flow is such a personal twist that it feels really genuine and right. Sure, there are some things that could be polished and fine tuned, but aside from that this really feels like a snap shot of a moment of thought and emotion, jotted down in raw honesty with a writers natural personal style ontop.

[Isolophobe]

I know how that goes. More of an awful feeling than a facial emotion can show.

[The Dark Passenger]

I know exactly how this feels- it's like you took a moment out of my life (in fact, just a couple of days ago) and wrote out a description of my emotions in poetry.
Amaaaaaaazinggg... The grammar is perfect, it works with the structure and flow of the poem. This is such a strong and emotive piece, you have to be proud!!!

Malicious little things,

but you were already drowning,

drowning in this pool of lies,

that you filled for yourself,

to bathe in your own self-loathing.

Good night, now,

and don't forget

keep smiling.


I'll never forget those lines. So breathtaking. Well done.

[Margaret Barton-Wahl]

This poem is strong and poigniant. It has a reality to it that is almost surreal. I enjoyed reading it.

[poetdweller]

that was really good, i like the part about "The smiles are just to cover,

something darker.

Plastered like cheap wallpaper," and how its bold on th3e word wallpaper

[steph]

that was great. exactly what i think. i dont know about life anymore but i do know smiles suck