A girl stands in front of a mirror, crying, and tries to talk herself up. She smiles and tells her reflection she is strong, that she has fallen before and gotten back up. For a moment it sounds like a pep talk, the kind of thing we say to ourselves on a bad day.
Then the poem turns. The words "Although right now" crack the encouragement open, and the voice admits it doesn't know how much longer she can keep going. The smile fades, and in the last line she holds a blade to her wrist. The poem suggests she is thinking about self-harm or suicide.
The mood is quiet and heavy. Nothing dramatic is shouted; the fear sits in the gap between what she says and what she feels. The mirror makes her both speaker and listener, and her comfort fails to convince even her. The title's smile becomes something she wears while she is struggling, and the ending shows how thin it has become.