When they told her she wasn’t pretty, she was confused

Her cheeks didn’t glow in the same way and her confidence felt bruised

The sudden realization overcame her like a drowning wave

And a hunger drove her to become another one of society's mindless slaves.

Her eyes, once so wide and bright, saw the miniscule beauty in everything

But now it’s all she looks for in herself, believing it to have gone extinct.

Before the evil enlightening, she was innocently whole,

Unaware that there was so much more than just your soul.

But then she was suddenly on the verge of shattering.

And I try to piece her back together with my hands, but the pieces of her face keep scattering.

She cowers in her room, convinced that the mirror and the scale are her enemies

But the real enemy hides in the digital shadow, wickedly pretending to be her remedy.

They take shots at her, but the real chinks in the armor are by her own hand,

But she can’t turn off her phone and now she’s caving into herself like quicksand.

The ghost of her past-self screams, because the voices in her head are her own,

Every time she passes a window, she scowls at the appearance of her reflection clone,

And little does she know that there are others who feel the same

But once a wildfire spreads, you can’t put out the flame.

She knows that she’s trapped within herself, but she can’t escape the girl in the mirror,

I’ve heard lately she’s been looking slimmer, and hasn’t touched her dinner.

They’ve been spoon-feeding her a substitute: a venomous ambrosia

But there’s no antidote for beguilement, and now she’s drowning in the potion.

She pleads to the heavens for conformity, to become camouflaged,

 But the girls she yearns to look like are only just a mirage.

Somehow the devils behind the screen can’t see past the picture,

Feeding their prisoners glasses of a corrupted elixir.

She stands broken and infringed, not by some happenstance here,

But by the claws of the mocking monsters that make poisonous champagne out of her tears.

Society has conditioned her to prioritize her appearance

And now she clings to them for praise, an addictive adherence.

Somehow they’re blinded to her honeyed generosity,

Only pining after her when her face is golden, compelled by sumptuosity.

But underneath layers of mascara-streaked tears and hidden lacerations,

You’ll find a girl once compelled by daydreams and slightly senseless fantasies.

Now that girl lies cracked on the pavement, her dreams seeping away into the foundation.

But now she switches off her phone, her reflection in a mirror that’s black,

Muting the voices in her head, and letting virtue be her new soundtrack.

She once sacrificed her dreams to breathe in an elusive nightmare,

But she woke up from her trance and suddenly felt repaired.

She once painted lies on her face, fabrications of her youth,

But she bathed in the understanding, and somehow found herself in the truth.

So, she discarded all her potions, her new-found antidote of revival,

She shattered all the mirrors one by one, a necessary deed for her survival.

Her heart was enlightened, her ambitions lost to conformity were once again fulfilled

Because no eyeshadow or coiled strand of hair could transcend the beauty within.

Because no one else had a face like hers, an unparalleled smile that danced to its own tune,

Her skin made from sunrays and freckles that resembled a little moon.

She didn’t meld into the sea of plastic twins, but instead she floated above the waves,
Clinging to her heart like a life raft, because it was the only part of her that she could save.

Now she emerges from the ashes of who she used to be,

Once bound to their unyielding chains, but now she’s finally free.

She demands a refund from the ones who deprived her of self-confidence,

A trial for the criminals who ransacked her insecurities are only consequent.

Because the angry mob can hound her with their pitchforks and torches,

But their ravenous fire can’t burn down her mind’s fortress.

The crowd is afraid to be anything but a part of the crowd,

But we can only think in silence, and the demons always scream so loud.

But she covered her ears with her hands, and refused to listen,

Because their truth is not the only truth that can be written.

But the crowd is not your enemy; they too are victims,

Overtaken by an infectious beast that leaves them stricken.

The one forceful power that governs our fear is rejection,

We cling to monotony like it’s our only protection.

We can’t escape society, we can only change its perspective,

Substance over appearance: that’s the objective.

It is evident that no society can easily change their true colors,

Because you can’t have lightning without a little thunder.

So, heed this warning, before it’s too late,

And before you’re hypnotized into falsehood, stuck at a stalemate.

Drown out the vociferous roar of the masses,

But don’t dissipate completely, you just have to take their matches

Before their fire can catch you, before the flame engulfs all your branches,

Let the flames destroy the debris, but leave the flowers untouched and placid.
When they told her she wasn’t pretty, she was no longer confused,

Her cheeks glowed in a new way, and her confidence felt renewed.