The Wilted Soul

By Maryll Princely

She painted herself in beauty

Every move orchestrated to impress

She polished her outward

Her heart she left chained

The fear of shame lit her way

She emptied herself

Betraying emotions bled away

Filing her holes with rules and books

Tightening the corset of indifference

Around her tiny waist

Her mind drained of selfish thoughts

As her lungs of air

For excellence is what she aimed

Her battle scars caked with foundation

Stench of sweat masked in perfume

She choked herself in the toxic fumes of her self loathe

All the while becoming one for the public to boast

She attained the perfection

Approved by man

And yet the name on their lips

Was not her own

Her sacrifice unheeded

Her self, evaluated and found lacking

While their fickle eyes

Preyed on, entranced by another

Leaving her desolate and alone

Her soul too starved to be of any solace to her

She craved an identity

An adoration in this cruel community

She longed to be

One of the many glorified embossed blooms

Memorialized for eternity

Yet instead

She was choked by the withered roses of society

Thorns piercing the dainty dandelions of her soul

Starved dry of sunlight

Now crushed by the weight of life

By Maryll Princely