A Glass Villanelle
Reflections on Reflections
I
When she was just a body, she stopped before the mirror
Approving. Disapproving. Dazed by the light’s refraction
Gaze into that glass for long enough, she’s hoping to see clearer
II
Vanity. Insanity. Combined this glass delivers
Impervious to gravity, the high demand for attraction
When she was just a body, she stopped before the mirror
III
A wrinkle, a fold, the affrontery of the old and inferior
A backside that sags, old eyes with their bags. All infractions
Of the rules, as ideal’s failure grows clearer
IV
Dysmorphia as guide, still she subscribes to the body superior
A fragile chin held up high, a slave to beauty’s abstraction
Her tummy held in tight. Just a body before the mirror
V
To age. To digress. To accept nonetheless, and forgive her
Wonder and ponder, cooly upon her changing reflection
Nothing more one can do, as the form and face grow clearer
VI
Know you exceed, what the standards of beauty deliver
Gifts not yet open promise satisfaction
With the sum of our flesh stood before our mirror
Gaze into the glass, and see your beauty grow clearer
Originally published at https://elizabethnuanain.substack.com on February 3, 2023.