I admired you from afar,
your beauty a magnet for secret lust
from those like me; smart and unremarkable,
while the jocks jostled for your eye-
teenage excitement hormone borne.
I sometimes wondered in intervening years
where life had taken you.
Your legend grew in my mind,
enhanced by absence, fueled by imagination.
As time for a reunion approached
you were the one I wanted to see.
Don't tell me that time has no sense of humor
and life knows not irony,
as I cannot recognize this girl who suddenly
clings to my arm and admires my success.
I listen to your litany of woe,
of unions long gone, children moved on.
I smell the alcohol on your breath
and see the death in your eyes-
and I finally come to the realization
that beauty was only a filigree laid
upon rotten wood.
Author notes
Prompt is "filigree"
A contest entry
- Filigree by Pamela A Lamppa.
1750 points, ended December 17, 2008, 14 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
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There are times when life delivers more than the pretty smile can conquer.
An excellent take on the prompt with an all to often true accounting of those, who in youth, were "all that" only to find they were so inwardly stricken with ugliness that time, as it crept slowly completed the show of shallow in each crease upon the face and in each plastic rose held.
Well done. This poem is sad and oh so very real.
Thank you for entering such a well crafted piece. Best of luck in the judging. ~Pamela
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Maybe not all memories are as sweet as we remember them...time can be very unkind when it wants to be.
A good poem to cover the prompt...all the best...Sue
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Excellent
Excellent take on the prompt word filigree.
As always I've enjoyed reading you.
"Do not seek the friends of old- they are never as sweet as the memories you hold". Quote by Cheryl Howell
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the last five lines....intensely stark
and real....the entire poem is, but
your closing is superb. I know it's
because your poetry tells it like it is -
no fluff. Very very well done.
Love, Lane
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