Who is the ugliest of them all?III. Mirror Mirror On The Wall
Florida
7/16/22
Asleep you find peace but as the sun rises it suddenly flees. Mom wakes you up each morning with a gentle shake and whisper. Some days it’s a battle and that whisper turns more stern. Other days the ache in your heart leaves you restlessly awake. You lie in dread until she peeks in her head. Down you climb from your still awesome bed. You’re older now though and so is your room. Pop teen posters and training bra days, teenage hormones, and that awkward phase.
I see the way you look at yourself each morning. You hate what you see. So you cake on the makeup and hope they believe.
You rise extra early because the covering takes time. But you feel better this way so you really don’t mind. Check your hair in the mirror and that look of repulse. That side profile of yours is a sight you disgust. If only you knew what beauty you held, I see our old pictures and I cry for you now.
You think it was a mistake, you don’t like how you’re made. The girls in the magazines don’t look the same.
You nitpick what you can never change and dream of better days. Yet boys still stare so maybe something is there? Wishful thinking at best, and at worst, the fear that they're laughing in their head.
I heard what he whispered in math class as if you couldn’t hear. A memory he’ll never remember still rings in your ear. It left you paralyzed, and I saw how hard you tried to hide the tears that welled up in your eyes.
There seems to be no escape. The shell of you is “not right” and what lies beneath leaves you afraid so you silence your voice so you can easily slip away. My love, if you only knew the hand that held you. The greatest Artist you’ll ever meet.
You love the sunsets and the ocean breeze. With skillful perfection, it’s the same hand that shaped you. He calls the sun to rise and the stars to shine! My darling, don’t you see? With great joy, He shaped your frame and every smile that you painfully fake.