Beauty
Raider Times photo / Mairéad Connolly / Word Painter
March 17, 2022
The darling ballerina takes the stage
Twirling, twining, soaring higher, further
A methodic beauty, song ends, she lays
Alone, on the stage, crying bloody murder
Losing her mind over one false landing,
One foot slightly out of place, imperfect.
Ugly! Ugly! the crowd sings, throwing sweet roses,
She is a broken girl as they applaud
Spine stiff, yet she still smiles as she poses.
Her skin is too raw, her complexion flawed.
She knows that she will truly never be
The beauty she only sees for moments
Without cracked mirrors, she makes a vow,
Her plight unheard, she takes a single bow.
–WP–
(Published March 2022)
