Gnats, Mice and Smiles

One Hard Look

Small gnats that fly

In hot July

And lodge in sleeping ears,

Can rouse therein

A trumpet's din

With Day of Judgement fears.

Small mice at night

Can wake more fright

Than lions at midday;

A straw will crack

The camel's back-

There is no easier way.

One smile relieves

A heart that grieves

Though deadly sad it be,

And one hard look

Can close the book

That lovers love to see.

by

Robert Graves

I like this poem. It is from my "Poem a Day" book. It first reminds me of the time that I got a real live mosquito or gnat caught in my ear and it buzzed around in there until it got tired and was stuck in some wax. It was another hot night in July, like now. My dad had just finished our new room addition, a den and my bedroom. This way my sister could have her own bedroom. I was so excited to sleep over in my knotty-pined corner that I didn't care that there were no screens on the window there yet. I kept hearing a high-pitched whine by my ear. I slapped down to my ear on the "sound" and suddenly it was much louder. I stuck my finder in my ear to get it out but that gnat was too far down the canal. I called my parents and they didn't really believe me and sort of humored me. The next morning, after little sleep, I was in no shape to go to school so my mom took me to the doctor's office and he pulled parts of it out with his elongated tweezers. It all seems rather funny now, but at the time I know I was not too amused. I still have very sensitive hearing. ie. the TIVO hum bothers me in our bedroom.

This morning I was hand-watering in our shaded area by the back AC unit. There was a little dead mouse. Haven't seen one of his kind since we "mouse-proofed" the garage last year. We were gettting about one a week in our traps until Roy, our brother-in-law came over and added an inch or so to our secondary garage door. He had the tools and the know-how, plus he could squat down low to adjust it. I've heard of rodents that get into people's walls and attics and scurry around at night especially driving everyone mad. That hasn't happened yet. I did sell a house to a lovely old couple who found out that they had a skunk and her babies trapped at the time of construction in their attic and then died there. My company put them up in a motel for more than a week while they "gutted" the house and attic. We did have a dead opposum and her babies in our old garage in Claremont. Lots of fun!

I've always enjoyed smiling at people, especially strangers. Mostly I do it just to see how they'll react. Will it be a half smile with just the mouth or will it include the eyes? As teachers, we used to do it with our students in the hall in passing. It was especially effective with certain ones we all knew were having problems in class or at home. Of course there was also that "teacher look", a "Hard Look" that usually conveys disapproval and reprimand. With some students that would be all you had to do. No words of warning need be spoken. A raising of the eyebrows, brief eye contact...that would do it. By now, I don't even need to do that with my "Better Half". She can just sense, and so can I, when something is not quite right. Then I'm reminded of ol' Rumpole of the Bailey, "She who must be obeyed" and my expression suddenly changes to a "Soft Look" and or word. Forty-four years of practice and love will do that. Bob!