In Comparison

The images surround me. Like Greek statues, they are perfect,
And they make me seem a shadow, barely human, and I expect
They were put here just to taunt me, make me grasp at what I can’t be,
Put a mirror up to nature. I lament at what is not me
And linger on potential and the sign-posted mistakes
That brought me to this moment: errors only a fool makes,
Like mines I stumbled onto with my careless, clumsy feet,
While everyone around me trod through on paths like straight streets.

“Watch them, ugly duckling, watch the sleek, smooth swans,
Paddling their dainty feet through flawless, sparkling ponds…
And what a shame you’re still struggling through the marshland,
Longing to be them, well, let me take your hand,
And whisper the truth to you: it’s just your stupid luck
That you are not a cygnet. You’ll become an ugly duck,
And stay here in the swamp where you belong,
I’m telling you the fairytale is wrong.”

I say it to myself all the time. Still it won’t sink in
That I am never going to change and no amount of blinking
Will change the facts that sit before my eyes:
The only thing that dirt attracts is flies.

So show me beauty and I’ll train myself not to care,
Shrug my shoulders in time with the flicking of smooth hair,
I’d display a better facet, show my good side if I had one,
But they’re all perfect and I’m nothing in comparison.