Only I saw

Some say there is only one smile

A smile Leonardo painted.

Mona Lisa, she gives a coy look 

A twitchy eyebrow look

With a curling lip.

And they rave

Critics marvel 

Students study it

Artists recreate.

But

I have been to France

I have seen her

And I was not impressed.

In a dark dank room,

Behind prison glass

An ugly woman gave a bland look.

I was disappointed

And that afternoon

I wandered the Louvre depressed.

Years after

Among the flowers of a busy scene

The constant motion

A commotion of smiling faces

Winks and constant noise

There was a smile I saw

Only I saw

I stood there in silence

As if a single flower had pushed through snow

The smile was a wanton moment

People honked and the distractions clamored

But I held that smile in my mind

Captured it like a photograph 

Developed it in my heart.

And I saw the smile Leonardo should have painted

If he had been standing where I stood

But he was not so singularly blessed.

So I will keep it.

It is mine

More sacred than a painting

And not bound by myopic glass.

It shines in quiet shyness

The vulnerable and beautiful smile  

Enveloped by angelic wings

Embraced by a seraph's splendor

Like a fire in his chest.

My invincible heart.