Daily Dose

From All the Poems, by Stevie Smith

THE FACE

There is a face I know too well, 
A face I dread to see, 
So vain it is, so eloquent 
Of all futility. 

It is a human face that hides 
A monkey soul within, 
That bangs about, that beats a gong, 
That makes a horrid din. 

Sometimes the monkey soul will sprawl 
Athwart the human eyes, 
And peering forth, will flesh its pads, 
And utter social lies. 

So wretched is this face, so vain, 
So empty and forlorn, 
You well may say that better far 
This face had not been born.