smiling dagger

**Smiling Daggers**

They smile wide, eyes brimming with warmth,
laughter bubbling like a mountain brook.
Soft words, sugar-laced, melt in the air—
**"You’re wonderful, truly!"**
**"We adore you!"**

But the moment I turn, so does the wind.
Whispers slither through the cracks of walls,
muffled chuckles sharpen into knives.
My name, a toy tossed in careless hands,
bent, twisted—
a joke I never signed up for.

I hear them, though they think I don’t.
Their laughter echoes, laced with mockery,
their kindness—just a painted mask,
chipped at the edges, hollow inside.

And I wonder—
is it me, too naive, too blind?
Or is the world just built
on smiles that cut deeper than words?