Once Upon a Time by Gabriel Okara

Once upon a time, son,
they used to laugh with their
hearts
and laugh with their eyes:
but now they only laugh with their
teeth,
while their ice-block-cold eyes
search behind my shadow.
There was a time indeed
they used to shake hands with
their hearts:
but that’s gone, son.
Now they shake hands without
hearts
while their left hands search
my empty pockets.
‘Feel at home!’ ‘Come again’:
they say, and when I come
again and feel
at home, once, twice,
there will be no thrice-
for then I find doors shut on me.
So I have learned many things,
son.
I have learned to wear many faces
like dresses – homeface,
officeface, streetface, hostface,
cocktailface, with all their
conforming smiles
like a fixed portrait smile.
And I have learned too
to laugh with only my teeth
and shake hands without my heart.
I have also learned to
say,’Goodbye’,
when I mean ‘Good-riddance’:
to say ‘Glad to meet you’,
without being glad; and to say ‘It’s
been
nice talking to you’, after being
bored.
But believe me, son.
I want to be what I used to be
when I was like you. I want
to unlearn all these muting things.
Most of all, I want to relearn
how to laugh, for my laugh in the
mirror
shows only my teeth like a snake’s
bare fangs!
So show me, son,
how to laugh; show me how
I used to laugh and smile
once upon a time when I was like
you.



"Inside every old person is a young
person wondering what happened."
-Terry Pratchett