We know within our hearts that personality
often cancels out what we can clearly see.
We all have known the men who, homely to the eye,
still have personalities sweet as cherry pie,
who win the ladies with their charm and humor that is wry,
causing them to line up for chances with this guy.
And the girl who’s plain until she starts to talk—
her face just so enlivened, you have to stand and gawk.
Made lovely by expression, intelligence and wit,
“beautiful” and “lovely” become the words that fit
when trying to describe this attractive little lass
who simply doesn’t bother with a looking glass.
Both have learned to conquer all their crippling fear—
to find the other side of doubt and kick it in the rear.
To face the world on their own terms and face it unafraid.
To take their rightful placement at the front of the parade.
But though we see what they have done, we do not always take
the road that for another seems to be a piece of cake.
You may find this poem to be most adolescent,
yet the feelings of our past most usually are present
throughout our lifetimes, though we seem to hide what we must feel,
leaving it to novelists and poets to reveal
the truths of all our agonies, the facts of all our fears—
all those things we’ve meant to face but yet hold in arrears.
I long ago discovered that writing must be true.
The only worthwhile topics are the things that bother you.
The lacks you find in others and the lacks within yourself
are what divide the poems in hand from poems on the shelf.
And so I must admit that fear’s my greatest hidden vice.
And since we all could do with taking our own sage advice:
I’ll say that with no fear, I would burn candles at both ends—
be as free with lovers as I am with friends.
I would have burned fingers, but an unbound heart.
All those lovely men, disregarded from the start
because I was too zaftig or not smart enough?
I’d face them nose-to-nose, and then I would call their bluff.
Today’s Prompt: Fearless Fantasies—How would your life be different if you were incapable of feeling fear? Would your life be better or worse than it is now?
I never thought that “Fearless” can spin into a poem so beautifully written like this one. Nice one Judy. 🙂
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Thanks, Andy. Really appreciate your taking the time to comment.
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You’re welcome. 🙂
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Thanks, Andy. Don’t know why I didn’t thank you when you first wrote this, other than the fact that I was busy preparing for a children’s camp and dealing with a new rather mischievous dog!
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Very good post. Love it
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Thanks, Joatmon
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Mark 🙂
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Great poem! Loved it!
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Thanks, Cindy….
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Having ‘no fear’ is a great way to enjoy life!
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You took this to so many angles. I like the plain faced girl made lovely by intelligence, expression and wit.
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Thanks, Jacqueline. I think we all know such women.
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In college, the MOST popular girl was a friend of mine who was probably by any standards fairly homely. But loved. Adored. She had men dropping at her feet. Through the years, I’ve seen it over and over. Men will date the beautiful women, but they marry for entirely other reasons. And to them, we are beautiful and always will be. (Vice versa, too.)
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I love the stories I get back in response to mine! Like paying back a loan or returning favor for favor. You are always good at that. No simple “like” for Marilyn. Always a bigger payoff! Thanks for that, my friend.
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A poem with the word “zaftig”…awesome! This is great, thanks for posting it again. It was too good to miss!
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Thanks, Lily. Even more fun to say than to write!!! It’s like it takes every part of your mouth to say it!
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Once again right on the money honey.
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Hi Pat…Nice to see you here again. I’ve rented Gaviotas for 3 months next year! I missed La Manz the minute I left it. Thanks for reading and commenting. xo (P.S. I just erased five exclamation points from two locations in my comment, thus acting my age.)
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