Archaic Smiles

Oh, archaic smiles!

Oh, shall I never be free of you?

Your eyes stare into me, 

With a gaze that died long ago,

And your smile is painted on,

Mocking your viewer with childlike scorn.

Oh, archaic smiles!

Oh, I shall never be free of you!

You smile, but there is no feeling behind it,

For you do not know emotion.

You do not feel the arrow in your chest,

Nor do you know my anguish when I see you yet again,

Oh, ancient sculptors, I beg you!

Learn to carve and cast in some new way,

That I may look on faces that breathe and feel,

And not these wicked, impish grins.