While
Raging inside his 6-foot-two frame because he couldn't
Understand what was attacking him from within
My mother, poor fish
Wanting to be happy, beaten two or three times a
Week, telling me to be happy: "Henry, smile!
Why don't you ever smile?"
And then she would smile, to show me how, and it was the
Saddest smile I ever saw
One day the goldfish died, all five of them
They floated on the water, on their sides, their
Eyes still open
And when my father got home he threw them to the cat
There on the kitchen floor and we watched as my mother
Smiled
The death meant little to him.  There was no remorse.  No emotion found in his response.
A smile to remember