OF CATERED SMILES

 

The lips move

with a feigned

and innocuous uttering

as if their curl

could be eradicate

what is counterfeit

from the heart’s mint.

Still

by philosophical dregs

absorbed with the stench

of rotting ethics

one lights a candle

symbolically stained.

Calling it

humanitarianism

though it is devoid

any quintessential

ingredient

that might express

a presence of conscience.