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From the Old English "smearcian" which means to smile or to laugh in a derisive manner ... to grin smugly while conveying a haughty countenance letting all who see this expression upon your mug become aware of your own sense of self-involved superiority. This kind of appearance makes itself apparent on a recurring basis to all who watch TV. regularly. I ain't mentioning no names.
And then there's fearlessness. That ability given to some to laugh at danger ... to grin in face of an impending and mighty onslaught to smirk as it were in the face of death. Hah ... you say to the scythed specter most fear ... while of course hoping no one notices your quivering entrails ... which leads to the pressing question: Hey, Benjamin. What's this got to do with jewelry ... or at least gold?
Hah right back at ya, I say with a smirk or a grin or even a condescending smile. And from under my cloak I bring forth a golden mask ... a death mask in fact ... a death mask with the haughty countenance of a smirking bearded noble that was found buried in the graves at Mycenae. It was called the mask of Agamemnon after the leader of the forces of the Trojan War in Homer's Iliad.
This of course--as you all surely know--is inaccurate as the mask's existence predates the war by some 300 years. Still ... a flight of fancy ... a little license ... and a wry smiling aristocrat is endowed with more fame than he could have excepted when he was alive. Ain't that how it is sometimes? Death clearly creates more greatness than life could ever hope for.
So ... I have this image of this smirking death mask that is so alive it almost jumps out at you. Could this nobleman have ever achieved the smirking stature in life that his death mask portrays now that he is no longer with us? I ask you this with great sincerity.
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