Saguaro Spirit

They all told her she was beautiful and
As she combed her tangled crinkley brown hair
The kind of hair that does not look good so natural
She stares at the mirror, purring in subtle pain

She stares at herself for several minutes.

She reaches out to touch the mirror
She wants to feel the unblemished skin they tell her she has
She wants to feel the painted almond eyes they tell her she has
She wants to feel the beautiful curvatures of her breasts that they tell her she has
The mirror smacks her hand away
She asks the mirror to allow her, just once, a glimpse of the handsome girl
And he apologizes graciously and claims that he cannot

She begs him, please, please,
And feeling sorry for such an ugly face
He allows her a glimpse,
Wait for it he says
One glimpse of the girl they all see everyday

As she combs her tangled crinkley brown hair,
The kind of hair that does not look good so natural
She waits for her one glimpse

She stares at the mirror and checks her watch and
She waits for the girl
With the skin, with the eyes, with the breasts
And she begins to grow angry, waiting impatiently.
She asks the mirror why she has not come, why she cannot see her

The mirror laughs with pleasure

She reaches out defiantly to touch the mirror and
He smacks her hand away
She wants to see what the others see she pleads
And he laughs again, mocking her, pointing.
She reaches out to touch the mirror again,
Tears streaming down her ugly face
The mirror does not smack her hand away
But instead, he swallows the girl into the glass
And plasters her face unto the clear
For all to see the unsightly blemished face that mortified her
For all to see her plain brown eyes,
Her sagging fat lumpy breasts,
Her tangled crinkley brown hair,
The kind that does not look good so natural

They all pass her by everyday,
They look at her
They turn away in shame
They stare unto her blindly
They hide a sly smile
She wishes they would look, look into the mirror and see how ugly she was
To tell her how revolting she looked
How her plain eyes cried,
How her fat breasts ate,
How her blemished skin whined
She wished they saw the shame she saw

Defiantly, they only looked without looking
Lamely, they all told her she was beautiful.