I Came to Buy a Smile Today
poem 223
I Came to Buy a Smile Today - meaning Summary
Buying a Private Smile
A speaker requests a single, almost unnoticed smile from another person, treating it like an intimate purchase. She minimizes the gesture’s apparent value while lavishly offering jewels—diamonds, rubies, topaz—as payment. The contrast between extravagant wealth and the tiny, private smile highlights desire for a subtle, personal economy of feeling. The poem reads as a delicate plea for small human warmth, framed as a gentle, ironic bargain.
Read Complete AnalysesI Came to buy a smile today But just a single smile The smallest one upon your face Will suit me just as well The one that no one else would miss It shone so very small I’m pleading at the counter sir Could you afford to sell I’ve Diamonds on my fingers You know what Diamonds are? I’ve Rubies live the Evening Blood And Topaz like the star! ‘Twould be a Bargain for a Jew! Say may I have it Sir?
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