Faces of Emotions

Faces

Emotions are fluid: they melt, they flow, they solidify, they harden... It all reflects upon the conditions we find ourselves in, the experiences we gather as life progresses. Sometimes we cry, sometimes we get angry, sometimes, we feel pain, bitterness, angst... and sometimes we really feel over the moon. Sometimes we show it, sometimes we don't. Some of our faces reflect the emotions swelling inside us, some of us don't, and yet it is universal: suffering is what makes our emotions flow. We do not intend to, consciously, but subconsciously we let it go, we let it express on the outside.

We let it flow, we let it drop, we let it freeze, we let it pour, we let it drip, one by one, we let it swell, splash, crack... against the inevitable in a fit of bitterness, we let it melt again, and again...

We yearn for something, we hope, we dream, we plan and yet we live our lives without choices: life is the strange bird which flies with the wind. It knows how to beat its wings but it cannot go against the flow. No way! It cannot be dictated, directed, channelized, controlled: it just happens. The flow then, in a sense, dictates how its wings beat. If there were such a market where emotions could be sold and bought, if it was really possible for such a market to exist, what emotions would you have? What would you choose? What would you go for?? Which one would you want to feel???How much would you pay? How much would you give, how would you bargain, on the Emotic Street of life???

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FACES

(7 September 2004)

In the market place

where everything is sold

beyond all bargain

are faces on display –

rich face and poor face,

glad face or sad one,

dark or light, young or old

stare wide and plain.

State your choice

and take your way.

Which one would you buy?

Beyond the crowd

of ignorant men

away from the scene

are faces on display –

hard face and soft face,

loathsome or lovely,

artless or guilty, humble or proud

inquire again and again.

as you choose

so you pay.

Which one would you buy?

In that canvas of life

where appearance deceives

and sympathies vary

behind the black curtain

are faces on display –

dead face and live face,

sweet face or bitter one,

welcome or hostile, pleasant or angry;

Which one would you love?

Which one would you see?

Here in this market 
come and buy me, me, me! they say.

Hopeful or forlorn, beautiful or ugly,

familiar or foreign

faces to play –

false one or true face

wait upon, wait again

for another bargain;

take your pick

and carry away.

Which one would you buy?

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(This composition first appeared in the anthology Dandelion in 2006. The one appearing above has been slightly edited and altered for the purpose of clarity. Copyright reserved with the author.

The image used in this post is a photo montage created by the author using some of the author's google plus followers. The final image has been flipped and inverted. The author thanks and apologizes at the same time for including some and not including others in the montage due to space constraints. No harm intended in any manner, whatsoever.)