You don't look at me
You used to
Though it was never to see beauty

Was beauty there?
In your eye, 
I wonder

Cracks and specks
Errant things
All disected and discerned, under your eye

All the little things, 
The desperate things
The shame-filled things

Left to wonder
How desperate I was
To have your eyes upon me
Undiscerning - a simple, admiring gaze

Hopeful for the day
That one fateful day when they would behold
Something desirous
Something beautiful

Then the day came
When I saw passed you
And saw, maybe for the first time,
Myself

Avert your eyes

Every scrape and scar is a story

The tale of me.
A fable.
A Myth.

A romance in the stretches and pulls of my skin
A parable in the arc and camber of my walk 
Speaking with Confidence

A legend
That tells of Resillience, and Sacrifice
And Love

In the shadow that follows,
The echo of Wisdom
And Patience

My shoulders, pillars,
For those who come after to rise upon
And know heights of which I could only conceive

A life, chronicled before you,
but not for you

I reach back to the girl 
Once so unsure in her steps,
And welcome her to my bosom
I remind her of the footfalls 
That brought us to this place

A life no other steps could have led her
A journey that had it been walked by another,
Would never lead them to where she stood today

It is with Pride and Humility
Gratitude, and Strength
That I stand before you

Those footsteps formed a path just my own
For the path is as unique as the prints
Gracing the tips of my fingers
And though at times challenging,
Each step ensured growth and understanding

Cast your gaze this way, I invite you
But be not confused, 
It's judgments hold no weight here

Behold the wonderment in creases
And streaks of silver

All the things you claim failed you
Were never for you from the start

Each revelation, a tiding, 
An account,
The very evidence of my success

There,
In the sum of it all,
There lies Beauty

Behold her.