Xi 

As a primal language void of
sound in human communication
the smile is meant to disarm to
convince that there is no ill intent
its wearer is disarmingly safe
and no harm will arise with this
assurance. Both the message and its
receipt represent the most basic
interaction between principals
whose intentions are unknown to
one another. Beware the occasions
when to accept that assurance shields
a real threat when it is not benevolence
that wears the smile but a cunning
misuse, deliberate in its devising
to relax suspicion and proffer trust
where none is deserved. The naivette
of the innocent has no recourse against
the practised deceiver who once
defied resorts to intimidation and
threat as restraint is exhausted and
questioners disappear. It is when
the smile has become a rictus that its
intention is revealed but few are able
to decipher its meaning to forfend
the inevitable sinister denouement.