As I See Me (Poetry)
09th September 2012
On the outside, older when the light
falls harsh and draws each line in sharp relief.
What years have multiplied the cream can’t fight —
the telltale shadows layer grief on grief.
No collagen can lift the weary droop —
the sallow sag of skin that won’t agree
with make believe, nor jump some frantic hoop —
buy lift and tuck cosmetic surgery.
This face a map of every failure felt
small joys long-overwritten by Life’s pain
yet there are days when furrows smooth and melt
as though a younger self peers through again.
On the inside, going on nineteen
when low illumination blushes kind
the image shifts — whole decades lost between —
Youth’s butterfly emerges in my mind.
falls harsh and draws each line in sharp relief.
What years have multiplied the cream can’t fight —
the telltale shadows layer grief on grief.
No collagen can lift the weary droop —
the sallow sag of skin that won’t agree
with make believe, nor jump some frantic hoop —
buy lift and tuck cosmetic surgery.
This face a map of every failure felt
small joys long-overwritten by Life’s pain
yet there are days when furrows smooth and melt
as though a younger self peers through again.
On the inside, going on nineteen
when low illumination blushes kind
the image shifts — whole decades lost between —
Youth’s butterfly emerges in my mind.