Just the sight would be most horrifying,

But that wasn’t the case

For the most disturbing feature

Was the smile on her face.

She lay dead in a street corner,

Her skin covered in scratches

Her lips blue as the sea,

And in her hand, burned out matches.

On the first day of the New year,

People started their day to find

Something that terrified them deeply

And think, “How could I be so blind?”

Only one witness recognized her.

“I’d seen her on the streets!

Selling matches dressed in rags

With no shoes on her feet.”

They focused on her smile

Why could have made her grin?

When she was little, all alone,

And her whole life seemed so grim?

“She used the matches to warm herself,”

Another neighbor concluded.

“But for the smile, I don’t know.

Perhaps she was deluded.”

After ten minutes of wondering.

An officer said, “Get back to business!

There are many things to do

That are more important than this is.”

With that, they went on with their day

Leaving it unbeknownst to the world

The events of the night before.

And the experience of the little match girl.