Beauty is Beast

It’s easy for beautiful people
to say beauty’s not important,
I thought aloud (on a first date) to one
of the most beautiful women I’ve seen.

I’m still trying to explain what I mean.
Yes, it’s in the eye of the beholder
but mostly it’s held by the owner
and it doesn’t always sink in.

Often it dies outside on the skin
of a body still animate but aged,
ends up buried somewhere between
the eye of one whose splendour faded
and photos they hold of has been.

Neil is Dodging The Rain’s Poetry Editor. His poetry has been published widely. https://twitter.com/neil_slevin