For beauty’s sake I take the brush
And soft caress my face
In shadowed contours may I hide
The flaws I would replace
Till gathered in conformity
I vanish without trace?

These colours of the fashion world
Might jar against my skin
And yet I don them slavishly
And pray yet to be thin
I know not where this mask may end
And where I may begin

Denying sweetness, denying all
Commit to strange regimes
But when we think we have a choice
It’s never as it seems
I rail against reality
Disappointing all my dreams

You’ll never be too rich, too thin
I ponder on these words
And now, just like a surgeon’s knife
They turn to vicious swords
This quest is simple, yet I know
Self defeating and absurd

I yearn to have been pretty born
I wish I had that charm
That makes mere strangers stop and turn
And with a blush disarm
But wish too hard now for a dream
You only come to harm

For beauty’s sake I re-arrange
What nature with me blessed
I scrutinise the mirror now
My judgement un-impressed
I want what I can never have
My own true self repressed

The artist pausing as they paint
Might bid me that I try
Some artifice and makeup here
To mimic symmetry
And even as I nod and smile
Within I fall and die

For beauty’s sake……

(c) Helen Valentina 2013, All Rights Reserved