The Eyes Have IT

The pandemic has its victims
The elderly are prone
While others feel less pain
Suppliers of soap are happy
And makers of masks
Hardly ever complain

A friend just back from Russia
Said there the eyes have ‘IT’
People swathe their chins in scarves
Amid serious snow and ice
But their eloquence is doubled
Rather than cut in halves

Will new language skills arise
As we mask to survive
The coronavirus plague?
Will gestures, winks and nods
Mean more than a muffled
Orm   blgu   krk   ay?

In Moscow or on the steppes
It is chic to rug up warmly
In mufflers and woolly hats
Mouths are seldom seen outside
But folk express themselves
Never minding that

Eyes can smile with
A corner crinkle
They can wink and flirt
Look down demurely
Show interest, love or hurt
Sorrow, mystery or mirth

Eyes can flare in anger
Laugh, show curiosity
Or gasp wide in surprise
A blink of lashes
A raising of brows
All can be said with eyes

© 2020 Tony Smith

A former academic, Tony Smith has written extensively on a wide range of subjects as diverse as folk music and foreign policy issues in the Australian Review of Public Affairs, the Journal of Australian Studies Review of Books, Overland, the Australian Quarterly, Eureka Street, Online Opinion and Unleashed.

Title photo by Words as Pictures from StockSnap.