I learned the truth at seventeen
That love was meant for beauty queens
And high school girls with clear skinned smiles
Who married young and then retired
The valentines I never knew
The Friday night charades of youth
Were spent on one more beautiful
At seventeen I learned the truth…

And those of us with ravaged faces
Lacking in the social graces
Desperately remained at home
Inventing lovers on the phone
Who called to say “come dance with me”
And murmured vague obscenities
It isn’t all it seems at seventeen…

Some of get it. Some do not.

Have you been rejected because you don’t measure up to the world’s definition of beauty?

Listen here.

He is right. It may not change a thing. But if somehow, you can feel acceptance…even for a moment.. let it encourage you.

It’s not you.

It’s them.

~~~

Photo Credit:  Denis Collette…!!! / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

At Seventeen – Janis Ian