Smile Please-2 Poem by ashok jadhav

(A single spotlight. The figure stands still, lips curved upward, eyes hollow.)
Smile, please.
Two simple words—
soft as a request,
sharp as a command.
So I lift my lips,
like raising a white flag.
Peace, I say without sound.
I am fine.
Can we move on now?
They don't ask what it costs.
They never ask what I had to bury
to make this face look light.
This smile—
it is borrowed.
It belongs to expectations,
to mirrors,
to moments when truth feels impolite.
I wear it at work,
at gatherings,
at funerals of my own dreams.
Smile, please,
because sadness is inconvenient.
Because tears interrupt schedules.
Because pain makes people look away.
Behind this curve of teeth
lives a storm trained to be silent.
I have learned the art
of laughing while breaking.
Do you know how lonely it is
to be praised for looking happy
while disappearing inside?
Still, I smile.
Because the world prefers surfaces.
Because honesty has no applause.
But listen—
if my smile ever falters,
do not ask me to fix it.
Ask me why.
Until then,
here it is—
perfect, polite, practiced.
Smile, please.