Smile Poems

Table of Contents

1. Dorothy's Dimples

   by Amos Russel Wells

   
   

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   As soft sunbeams plash
   In a lakelet of white,
   So Dorothy's dimples
   Are dimples of light.
   

   And as little waves run
   From that plashment away,
   So the curve of her smile
   Widens out through the day;
   

   Widens out to the faces
   That see her the while.
   That move to her dimples
   And smile with her smile.
   

2. One Hundred Per Cent

   by Amos Russel Wells

   
   

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   "I should like to be rich," said young Tom, with a sigh;
   "There are so many things I am aching to buy!
   Oh, would I had money, and would it were lent,
   To good steady payers, at fifteen per cent!"

   Now it chanced a wise man, just in passing, had heard
   Tom's sighs and repining, each covetous word;
   So he took the young fellow astride of his knee,
   And taught him to grow just as rich as could be.

   And this way 'twas done. Every once in a while
   Tom would lend to some neighbor--a sunshiny smile;
   And every time, for the smile he had lent,
   Tom got two in return. That's one hundred per cent!

   Bright greetings, warm kisses, kind deeds on the sly,
   All bring him an interest equally high;
   And before many days I am bold to declare,
   You will find that young Tom is a true millionaire.

3. Smiles

   by Ellen P. Allerton

   
   

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   Some monstrous moralist lays down this rule
   Among the maxims: "Always wear a smile.
   He must have learned it in some Jesuit school,
   Where deepest wisdom is but deepest guile.
   Who would obey must set himself the task—
   A hateful one—to always wear a mask.
   

   Your constant smiler is a hypocrite,
   'Tis evil that must hide, not honesty.
   He whose expression always wears a bit,
   A very prince in wickedness may be.
   "A man may smile and be a villain still;"
   And he who always smiles, be sure he will.
   

   A smile is lovely when, through lip and eye,
   The sunny sweetness of a soul shines out,
   Like a quick glimpse of glory; 'tis a lie
   When inner darkness it but wraps about.
   Night rules us all at times; shall we, the while,
   Hide our sad midnight with a morning smile?
   

   Our faces are our windows. Is it meet
   That one should always keep his curtains down?
   When smiles are but the draping of deceit,
   Better, far better, were an honest frown.
   By semblance falsely sweet sin hides its art—
   Only from men—God looketh on the heart.
   

4. Sunshine

   by Kate Louise Wheeler

   
   

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   The sunshine makes the flowers grow,
   They cannot thrive in shade;
   If naught but darkness did they know
   Their brightness soon would fade.
   

   Our lives require the sunlight's glow,
   They cannot thrive in gloom;
   If naught but darkness did they know
   Bright hopes would never bloom.
   

   The sunny smiles that make life bright.
   And bless the passing hours,
   Will do for souls that need the light
   What sunshine does for flowers.
   

5. Why I Smile

   by Kate Slaughter McKinney

   
   

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   I smile because the world is fair;
   Because the sky is blue.
   Because I find, no matter where
   I go, a friend that’s true.
   

   I smile because the earth is green,
   The sun so near and bright,
   Because the days that o’er us lean
   Are full of warmth and light.
   

   I smile as past the yards I go,
   Though strange and new the place,
   The violets seem my step to know,
   And look up in my face.
   

   I smile to hear the robin’s note.
   He comes so newly dressed,
   A love song throbbing in his throat,
   A rose pinned on his breast.
   

   And so the truth I’ll not disown,
   Because the spring is nigh;
   My heart has somewhat better grown,
   And I forget to sigh.
   

   A cheerful smile is like that star
   Which guides the sailor's helm;
   And thus the land is seen afar,
   Which darkness would overwhelm.
   

   – Eliza Wolcott
   On Cheerfulness

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   But at his smile I smiled in turn,
   And into my soul there came a ray:
   In trying to soothe another's woes
   Mine own had passed away.
   

   – Laurence Dunbar
   The Lesson

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