Changing

Changing - meaning Summary

Smiles Replaced by Sharp Wit

The speaker observes that someone once warm no longer smiles simply. Others admire this person’s cleverness and quick humor, but the speaker experiences that wit as cutting rather than comforting. The poem registers emotional distance and a loss of spontaneous warmth; the absence of a plain smile becomes a small but telling sign of changed intimacy and perhaps a hidden pain behind performative brilliance.