The Inner Bowler Hat

By Benny Andersen

SMILE

I was born with a howl
squalling I received my baptism
cried when I was beaten
screamed when bees stung me
but gradually became more Danish
learned to smile to the world
to the photographer
        to doctors
        policemen and perverts
became a citizen in the land of the smile
smiles keep the flies away and the mind clean
and light and air are good for the teeth
if you arrive too late
if you go bankrupt
if you are run over
just smile
tourists flock
to see smiling traffic victims
chuckling homeless
cackling bereaved

I cannot get my smile off
sometimes I feel like crying
or to just stand droopy-mouthed
or protest against other smiles
which conceal bloodthirst and rot
but my own smile gets in the way
sticks out like a car bumper
tearing hats and glasses off people

I bear my smile with a smile
        my crescent yoke
on which worries are hung out to dry
I must lean my head sideways
when I go through a door
I am a citizen in the land of the smile
It is not at all funny.



From Benny Andersen: Cosmopolitan in Denmark
Borgen 1995

Translated by Cynthia La Touche Andersen