(1) Smile Quaintly

Indiscriminate crowds gather to see a lonely person dissipate, mercenary personalities are always willing to wait to take a vague comfort in somebody else’s genuine pain, to smile quaintly in a bedroom at the pillow tear-stained. There are cruel encounters beside autumn leaves, lovers kiss a final time in a sunset breeze; the only way to survive this life of departures is to accept the capricious whims of fate without too many tears or expressions of hate. It is better to walk alone with prayers than to be shackled to another with numerous cares; it’s better to weep in silent rooms than to hear insincere laughter amid the stale perfume.