Charles Bukowski is one of the prominent poets I can confidently say I have read all of his publicly available writings. 

Similar to my claim of having listened to and owning most of the albums and singles sung by the Ghazal singer Jagjit Singh.

His poem “A Smile to Remember” is one of the saddest poems I have read. 

I have read it many times, just like some of his other poems, and each reading reveals the depth of the pain he conveys through these profound yet straightforward lines.

Read the poem, and I am sure you will feel the same way -  

we had goldfish and they circled 

around and around

in the bowl on the table 

near the heavy drapes

covering the picture window and

my mother, 

always smiling, wanting us all

to be happy, 

told me, ‘be happy Henry!’

and she was right: it’s better to be happy 

if you can

but my father continued to beat her 

and me several times a week while

raging inside his 6-foot-two frame 

because he couldn’t

understand what was attacking him 

from within.

my mother, poor fish,

wanting to be happy, 

beaten two or three times a

week, telling me to be happy: ‘Henry, smile!

why don’t you ever smile?’

and then she would smile, 

to show me how, and it was the

saddest smile I ever saw

one day the goldfish died, 

all five of them,

they floated on the water, 

on their sides, their

eyes still open,

and when my father got home 

he threw them to the cat

there on the kitchen floor 

and we watched 

as my mother

smiled