Teen Daze

Would her beauty lessen if she believed its radiance?

 Or can such beauty only thrive in shade?

 I remember pain when opinions mattered relentlessly.

 I wanted mother to reassure me.

 "You are attractive," she mustered.

 Her response confirmed my agony.

 I whose words made cool kids wince.

 Didn't fit in even when they decided I did

 She is beloved but

 Her auto default is to isolation.

I understand doubts you can't shake.

 Awkwardness of self was also mine.

 Do calm words of comfort cool nervous vitiation?

 Shame at being different and overthinking it all?

 Never.

 Years ahead she'll remember my words

 And ask 'why couldn't I believe her?'

I didn't understand time wasted on the preeners

 Who flee self-reflection like summer feet avoid asphalt.

 If only I could dissuade self-abnegation

 Only suffering teaches lessons we don't learn

 Forging wiser resolve to refuse separating our selves

 Selves must swim deep into it to move beyond

 The whirlpool whose saltiness sticks to your scabs

 In the future you console another decoder of gazes

 Spouting mindless code to confirm herself as castoff

 Banishing gazes flail confidence like her very first swim.

Beauty is tragically wasted on young deniers

Unable to suss their manifold Amazonian powers

 Except as rulers to rap peers' palms

 A girl who thinks too much always doubts herself first.