Genie Nakano

Prompted by Thich Nhat Hanh
The inner smile and breath is a means to attain comfort, peace and joy.

Smile, smile.
I am an elder, a drone, a crone.
Yet a child inside.
I hide my sadness and pain
behind a smiling mask.
I doubt my insight and intuitions.
So I ask you, what is real?

Your smiling mask in time will be real,
sensei spoke.
Your inner smile is soft like petals on a flower.
The corners of your lips will rise in meditation.
Your shoulders drop.
Warmth will fill your pores.
You will know what is real.

Sit in stillness.
Let your rushing mind settle.
Take another breath.
Exhale years of ancient stories.

Sensei, it is not easy to sit in stillness
and calm a rocky, angry heart.
I scream and curse at loved ones,
yet I crave calmness and the gift of bliss.

The bliss of an inner smile
is not a mask.

Sunlight is what
flowers turn to
Rise above,
beyond the screams.
Rise,
beyond the dreams.

Sensei, can a flower bloom
in my angry heart?

I sit with this question.
I take another breath…

Somewhere inside
a petal opens.

Somewhere inside
a flower blooms.

January 18, 2025

November 12, 2026 revised