Anything Else

Sisters, you wear happiness as a shroud
Hiding your face in it's pleasing folds
Sadness, too, is your veil
A cloth with which I am unfamiliar
Neither happy, nor sad; I do not know extremes
But I swear, this is me smiling.
Protractor and compass could measure
the curvature of my lips.
Mere human eyes could not tell.
I can wear a straight face all day long
You would never see a bead of sweat on my brow
Naturally nonchalant, inclined towards indifference
Perhaps I do not give a damn.
Tell me your sadness
Show me your sackcloth of mourning
Sing me your grief and pain for
I am the Void, to draw it all away, within
It is mine now, but you may keep you rainments
Your showy grievances
So long as your heart belongs to me.
I remain unmoved
But then!
I hear what may be tears
From across the bounds of house not home
And the Void breaks apart, overflowing
Shattering within, but not the wall without.
A straight face can not have a crooked line
of tears or frowns or trembling lip.
I am never happy, nor am I sad.
I simply am, though your pain and mine
And his and hers and theirs
Run free within.
I simply am, for I know not how to be
Anything else.