At thirteen years old she was beautiful:
thin and blonde. Puberty can do
wonderful things to a person, stretch
the figure of a girl into a woman,
give her reasons to wear a bra.
These gifts are not temporary.
They stay with a person, become part of a person
all the way through to old age
when we die. Things alter though.
One, two years later hips
expand, and with them the stomach,
thighs, the perimeter of a face.
Puberty lies. It leaves her with an image of perfection
not her own, and she will spend years yet
trying to live up to it.
There are more battlefields in life
than we can ever be aware of, people struggling
to love the face they see in the mirror
every morning. In a world of airbrush
ads and beauty queens, diet programs
and private bathroom stalls:
she was the first to open the doors.
No comments:
Post a Comment