day-to-day

smile for the camera, sweetheart. smile like you mean it. try it. fake it with all the strength, with all your will. fake the best you can – I know you can do it – just like you do it everyday in your life. look at my lenses, darling, look at me. smile to me, convey with your lips the happiness your eyes no longer show. grasp the concept, my dear, for aesthetics is what matters and a photo really can’t tell any feelings. look pretty, do it. sell this product, do it – theatre is all that is necessary. be a muse, be an idol, sell those parted lips. no need for the heartfelt tumbling of laughter – just the image, just the illusion. this is reality.

be amusing, my love, this is what they want. make the effort. smile, tell them jokes. distract them, my sweet, for this is your role. you’ve earned it, so play it. you begged for it, so own it. wear your costume, wear that face – the one with glistering eyes, clouded by tears. no need to be, just to seem. hold those drops back, even if they sting behind the lashes; this is not the time, nor the place. “Ridi, Pagliaccio, sul tuo amore infranto!”. laugh at it, your own disgrace. fake it. make it. take this beautiful castle of illusion you have created and own it. reign it. queen of your castle, you are. hold on to your illusion. this is all the reality you have.